Forgotten Powers
by hitokiri oro-chan
Summary: AU Luffy accidentally angers a witch while visiting a new island She places a curse on him which has some unexpected results. Is it possible that Luffy has strange powers of his own? Powers he's been hiding for years, even from himself
1. Cursed

Disclaimer - I don't own One Piece...

**Forgotten Powers**

Chapter 1

A loud crash echoed along the quiet market place, closely followed by a cloud of dust.

Zoro slapped one hand against his forehead and gave a low moan of frustration, Usopp grimaced and they both turned slowly to look behind them. As expected their Captain was nowhere to be seen.

'Please tell me that wasn't him.' Usopp muttered fervently, eyeing the settling dust warily.

Zoro snorted and adjusted the bag of supplies he carried over his shoulder. 'Who else do you know that can make such a mess?'

Usopp grinned and they began to move towards the disturbance. 'You actually sounded curious.' He observed to his green haired friend.

The swordsman rolled his eyes as they rounded the corner. 'I'd like to know if there's anyone else out there who can attract trouble as quickly...as…Luffy?' His voice trailed off as he finally came face to face with the disaster that had been caused by the crashing noise.

'Urgh.' Usopp voiced intelligently, slapping his forehead with both hands.

Luffy was standing on a pile of splinters and rubble of what obviously used to be a small store. There was dust settling on his wild black hair, turning it an interesting shade of light brown. His straw-hat was hanging around his neck and he was holding his hands up in front of him as though creating a shield between himself and the furious looking old lady his crew guessed owned the now flattened store.

A small crowd of villagers had gathered at the disturbance and were now watching the scene in front of them. For some reason the swordsman couldn't see, they all looking both excited and nervous, as though something big was about to happen. There was a strange feeling in the air, the feeling of wary anticipation that usually accompanied seeing a giant electrical storm gathering in the near distance.

The pair finally got close enough to hear what was being said. 'I'm sorry!' their captain was saying with a large grin on his face and not looking very sorry at all. 'I told you, I was chasing that funny lizard and crashed into your shop.' He bent, the grin still in place and picked up a plank.

'A…lizard?' Zoro muttered in resignation. As much as he respected his captain, it was times like this he wished the 17 year old could act a little more his own age. Time after time he was getting the whole crew involved in situations that could have been avoided if he had just used some common sense. The swordsman guessed from the look on the lady's face, that this time the free-spirited young man had gone one step too far. He took a step forward, hoping to diffuse the situation before it got out of hand.

'I can fix your shop!' The boy cried, waving the wood in his hand. The plank suddenly gave a loud cracking noise and broke cleanly in half, the top falling out of the young pirate's grip and somehow crushing the one pot that had miraculously survived the destruction of the shop.

'Ah…' Luffy said bemusedly, watching some sort of strange black liquid soak into the timber scraps he was standing on, hissing menacingly as it disappeared.

'Sorry!' He tried again, his grin slipping a few notches when he finally noticed the ferocious look on the lady's face. She was physically shaking with rage.

Zoro groaned. _So much for handling the situation_. He thought sourly, he was about to take a step forwards when he heard the muted muttering around him and turned, distracted toloo at the still gathered villagers who were now whispering between themselves.

'Now he's done it.' One rather elderly looking man said to what looked to be his son.

The younger man nodded. 'Look at the glint in her eye.'

A woman bundled up her child who was watching the whole scene with fascination and ran back down the street, away from the shop.

'Uh, oh.' Usopp muttered as he too got a look at the old woman's face. The sniper was quite sure if she had been looking at him like that, he wouldn't have even been attempting to grin at her like Luffy was… he would have been sprinting back to the Going Merry as fast as he could.

The electricity in the air became even more palpable, and the woman took a menacing step towards Luffy. She brought her arms up above her head and gave him a nasty grin, making the captain take half a cautious step backwards. There was an extremely menacing twinkle in her dull green eyes as she stared down the tousle haired pirate.

'I think it is about time you stopped this charade.' She announced in a booming tone with an authority that belied her years. She took another step towards the rather startled looking boy who this time stood his ground. He brought his hands up too - and tried in vain to calm her down.

'Hey, it was an accident.' She took another step, completely ignoring his protests. Luffy took another half step backwards, stumbling slightly on some of the wooden debris that littered the ground. 'What are you doing?'

'This charade will end.' She said again, ignoring his protests completely and advancing one final step towards him, now only meters from the boy.

Luffy's eyes widened when the old woman began to glow a faint green. The electricity in the air increasing until the wind seemed to crackle with it. The light seemed to fade from her body, collecting in her right hand, she gave her hand a little shake and a ball of green energy formed, floating inches above her palm.

Without warning she took a final step forwards and flung the green ball directly at Luffy who appeared too startled to move. The ball of light hit him square in the chest and he crumpled, unconscious before he hit the ground.

'Luffy!' His crew yelled, running forwards.

'What the hell?' Zoro exclaimed in a loud voice, facing off against the witch, acting as cover for Usopp by placing himself between the woman and his friends. The marksman rushed from the side-lines towards their fallen captain.

'What was that?' Zoro growled, obviously shaken. 'What did you DO?' He thumbed his blade partially out of its sheath as the woman faced him fully and grinned at the swordsman, a rather unpleasant sight which showed a lot of brown, pointed teeth. 'You will thank me for this.' She predicted ominously, peering at him from underneath the lank, greasy grey hair that partially covered her eyes.

Zoro raised an eyebrow incredulously. 'For knocking out my Captain with a ball of god knows what?' He snorted and crouched into a defensive stance. 'Somehow I doubt that.'

'Zoro!' Usopp yelled as he stood, a still unconscious Luffy draped over his shoulder. 'We have to get him to Chopper, he's burning up!'

'What?' Zoro demanded wildly, turning his head from the witch to survey the sharp-shooter. Usopp was very pale, as he struggled to lift his captain onto his back – but his face was set and determined.

The old woman cackled, the sound like pebbles in an old can, tinny and hard. 'Your Captain will be fine, the fever is simply a result of him resisting the spell. When it wears off and he awakens his true self will be revealed.' She laughed again.

'True self?' Zoro muttered in confusion.

'Zoro!' Usopp yelled again, turning to start towards the ship. 'We have to go!'

'This isn't over.' Zoro muttered darkly over his shoulder at the still cackling woman as he raced to follow Usopp.

The woman paused in her laughing to watch the pair run away, their Captain still limp on Usopp's back.

'No,' she agreed stroking her pointed chin thoughtfully. 'I think it is just beginning.' She began to laugh again, the sound bouncing around the streets, the echo distorting and warping.

* * *

'What the hell happened?' Sanji yelped, dropping the bowl of peas he had been shelling onto the deck as he caught sight of their unconscious Captain.

Chopper stood with a little wailing noise and went rushing down to the men's cabin for his medical bag, his hooves clacking on the wooden deck.

Nami stood up from where she had been sunbathing in the afternoon sun and walked over them, her hands planted firmly on her hips. She was clearly worried, but was hiding it behind a mask of intolerant anger.

'He can't even go to the market without getting in trouble?' She exclaimed. 'What happened?'

Zoro and Usopp exchanged glances. 'Ummm… we think he was … cursed.' Usopp muttered.

'Cursed!?' Nami shrieked horrified.

'How the hell did he get freaking CURSED?' Sanji demanded, his visible eye widening.

The two exchanged looks again, and this time it was Zoro who answered, Chopper arriving with his bag just in time to catch the quickly summed up story. He shook his antlered head in disbelief while he knelt over their Captain.

'Only Luffy.' Sanji muttered, almost in awe as the story was finished.

'His fever is really high.' Chopper stated, grinding up some powder and tipping it into Luffy's slightly open mouth, followed with a little water to wash it down. Luffy swallowed reflexively and Chopper placed a hoof gently on his forehead to calm the boy, gently sweeping back his Captain's black hair as he shuddered unconsciously from the awful taste.

The crew watched in concern as their Captain stilled again. 'The old witch said the fever was caused by him resisting the spell.' Usopp supplied a little doubtfully. 'She said when he wakes up tomorrow morning he'll be his true self.'

'What the hell does that mean?' Sanji demanded, flicking the ash from his cigarette in irritation. The curly haired boy shrugged, his eyes still on his Captain as he lay on the deck.

'In any case.' Nami began rather bossily, still worried. 'It can't be comfortable for him to be lying on the hard deck like that. We should take him to his hammock.'

The others nodded at this logic, and Zoro bent to scoop up the sick boy, trying very hard not to disturb him as he slept.

'We'll wait and see how he wakes up tomorrow.' Chopper recommended, wiping his hooves on a little towel. 'If he's no better we'll need to go and pay a visit to the witch.'

The crew nodded and began to follow the swordsman down to the cabins their Captain's health taking priority over revenge on the witch.

Usopp paused for a moment on the deck watching the others go below, the whole experience summed up for him by one of Luffy's arms swaying unconsciously as he was carried by his swordsman.

The realisation that their Captain was sick and they didn't know what had caused the illness hit him suddenly, that the only information they were going on was the word of the person who had made him sick to start with and the hope that she was telling the truth worried the marksman immensely. Usopp made a decision then that he would watch over his Captain all night if he had to, to make sure nothing happened while he was asleep.

'True self.' He muttered to himself with a sarcastic little snort, before turning with a soft sigh and following his nakama down the stairs.

* * *

The next morning the crew, who had all apparently shared Usopp's fears had slept in the cabin to keep an eye on their Captain, awoke when they heard a low groan.

'Eh?' Came a very familiar and welcome voice. The crew could make out a figure sitting up in the semi-darkness that showed it was just before dawn. The pale light filtering through the two small port holes in the cabin was washing over him. Luffy sat up slowly, one hand firmly pressed to his forehead showing he was still quite dizzy. He didn't move for a long moment.

'Luffy? How are you feeling?' Chopper asked professionally.

'Alright?' He said a little doubtfully, looking himself over. 'I think…' he paused for a moment. 'No, I'm ok.' He confirmed, still sounding confused.

The others looked at each other, worried by the uncharacteristic answer. Luffy swung his legs over the edge of the hammock and sat for a minute, simply looking at them with a smile on his face. Not his usual grin, but an actual smile. 'Yep, I'm ok.' He said again.

'So…' Sanji began hesitantly, a little unnerved by the Captain's rather odd behaviour. 'Who's up for some breakfast?'

'Yeah! I'd like some!' Luffy said eagerly with another bright smile.

Sanji shrugged at the others. Although not the usual vibrant, slightly scary response they were used to when food was mentioned. It was very early and it was good enough for now. But still, it seemed there was something different about their captain. The blonde cook could tell from the looks on the other faces that the others had seen it too.

'Well come on you crap-guys and Nami-swan.' He said as he stood. 'It won't take long, you can wait in the kitchen.'

Everyone but Luffy who was still slightly unsteady looked at the cook strangely for a moment. He never allowed them to wait in the kitchen while he cooked. He once said it was because he didn't like people to see the ingredients he was cooking… that it took all the magic out of the finished product.

Sanji shrugged barely perceptively as Luffy stood up and put his hat firmly on his black hair looking around expectantly at the others.

'Ah.' Zoro muttered to himself, realising quickly that this was the cook's way of keeping an eye on the Captain. The swordsman stood, shrugged and led the way upstairs. He'd gone a few steps across the deck when he'd turned slightly surprised to see Luffy walking calmly beside him, not bounding in front of him, like he usually did - especially when he was on his way to a meal.

There was a rather serene look on the young captain's face and Zoro couldn't help but notice he held himself a little bit differently. He looked more self-assured and more…powerful, a little more mature maybe.

_What the hell?_ Zoro thought raising an eyebrow slightly in confusion.

'So how are you feeling, Luffy?' He asked hesitantly allowing the Captain to walk through the kitchen door before him. 'Really I mean.' He finished quietly.

Luffy looked over his shoulder as he sat down at the table and gave a rather mysterious smile as he realised the whole crew were waiting for an answer. He closed his eyes briefly obviously putting some thought into how to answer the question.

Sanji began cracking eggs into a pan, the strong smell of eggs filling the room in seconds and the loud sizzling noise making the small room even more homey. He opened his eyes again with a small sigh and looked down at his hands which were folded on the table, a distinctly uncharacteristic gesture which he didn't seem to notice. His crew did though and they shot confused looks at each other.

'I feel…' he began, unsure how to phrase it. 'Different.' He paused. 'But more normal almost.' He stopped suddenly and glanced up at his crew. He noted the confused looks on their faces and gave a soft laugh, reaching up to pull his hat from his head and placing it in his lap as the other hand ran slowly through his black hair making it stick up more than normal. .

'Sorry,' he stated apologetically. 'That made no sense.' He paused again. 'I'm just not really sure how to explain it.'

He looked up again and realised that this time the crew were looking at him with something closer to shock on their faces. Sanji had turned away from the stove; the eggs were beginning to blacken slightly around the edges.

'What?' The captain asked innocently.

'You _sound _different.' Nami observed. The others nodded and Sanji gave a soft curse and turned quickly to dive back to the stove, salvaging their breakfast skilfully and serving it onto pre-warmed plates.

'I do?' Luffy asked a little bewildered.

The others nodded. 'You're using bigger words and your sentence structure is different.' Nami provided, taking the plate of food Sanji handed her gratefully.

'I … don't know what to say to that.' Luffy began, as he picked up his fork, playing with it briefly before scooping up a mouthful of eggs. 'I feel like me.' He finished, taking a bite. _Maybe even more so_. He thought to himself.

There was a long silence, broken only by the chinking of forks and spoons on plates. The rest of the crew all looked up suddenly… silence at meal times was NOT normal on the Going Merry. They saw their Captain eating heartily, but his dark eyes were glazed over in thought. He was only eating from his own plate.

'…Luffy?' Chopper began, there was no response. He reached out a hoof to tap his friend.

'Hey, Luffy?' the black-haired young man blinked and turned his gaze down to look at the doctor, a gentle smile on his face.

'What's wrong Chopper?' he asked

'I want to give you a check up after breakfast' the little reindeer's butter knife flashed when he gestured, catching the morning sun. Luffy froze. Chopper pulled a pot of jam towards himself and began spreading it on an English muffin, oblivious to the look on his captain's face as he continued. 'You seem healthy enough but…' the knife flashed again.

'No…' Luffy whispered, eyes wide, pushing his seat back from the table with a loud screeching noise.

'Luffy?' Chopper moved forwards, scared by the usually unflappable Captain's display of fear over a simple check up.

The rest of the crew exchanged alarmed looks at his unexpected reaction.

'No!' Luffy whispered a little stronger as he backed up against the wall. 'Leave me ALONE!' He growled in a dangerous voice, taking the crew by complete surprise, his eyes now darting between each of the knives in his crew's hands.

Nami's eyes widened slightly. 'Everyone put down your knives.' She said very softly and calmly. They looked at her quickly and then back at their tense captain, his wide eyes still trained on his nakama's hands, relaxing only very slightly when they put down the utensils.

Zoro stood slowly, trying not to startle his friend further. 'Hey Luffy, it's alright. Chopper's not going to give you a check up if you don't want one. Are you?' He asked, directing the question at the little reindeer.

Chopper shook his head wordlessly, mouth slightly open in shock. Zoro took another step and Luffy tensed up even more than before, his back flat against the wood panelling of the kitchen wall.

Luffy glared at the taller man with absolute fury written all over his face. Zoro unconsciously took a step backwards as realisation hit him.

'You… you don't recognise me do you?' Zoro stammered, taking another half step back. The others blanched.

'Get AWAY from me.' Luffy stated flatly in a tone none of them had ever heard him use before. It was an absolute order, one that was tainted with fear - he was panting slightly, and sweating, eyes wild.

Luffy was scared… of his nakama.

'It's ok.' Zoro said gently trying again, stepping forwards until he was close enough to touch Luffy's shoulder – something the older boy had learnt was effective in calming his friend when he was angry. He brought one arm up slowly towards his friend. This proved to be a very bad move.

So suddenly the move was slightly blurred, Luffy tensed, bringing himself up to his full height and pushed himself away from the wall. The sudden move forcing Zoro to stumble back the few feet he had gained.

'GET AWAY!!.' Luffy screamed at the top of his lungs, hands screwed into balls at his side and his face scrunched with the effort of yelling. A sudden wind blew as though coming directly from the distraught young man. His eyes flicked between them all and the intensity of his gaze was making his eyes glitter with a power none had ever seen before, he was panting harshly and he was very pale.

He stepped forwards, his hands bundled into tight fists at his sides. Spider-web like cracks began appearing in the windows as though fuelled by Luffy's rage.

Chopper twitched and Luffy's gaze shot to him, freezing the young doctor in his place. 'Don't move.' Luffy growled again, more softly this time, but with even more intensity.

The windows shattered suddenly, blowing in violently as though pushed by a monster force. Bits of glass flew around the room, and the floor began to shudder violently. The crew were very aware that if the heavy wooden furniture was not bolted to the floor it would be slamming around the room as well.

Nami screamed suddenly, as a small sliver of glass cut her hand. A tiny trickle of blood leaked from the cut and dropped to the floor.

As suddenly as it had started, the noise and wind stopped. Luffy's hands dropped their fist and his eyes darted to Nami who was being sheltered by Sanji under the table. She looked terrified, but his eyes were fixed on her bleeding hand.

'Nami… guys…' Luffy muttered. He blinked once, surveying the disaster that was now their kitchen. Broken glass littered every flat surface making the room glitter in the morning sunlight. Food was all over the floor from both the wind and his nakama knocking the plates off the table as they dived underneath, the crew themselves began poking their heads out from under the table to look at their friend, all looking rather windswept.

'Huh?' he muttered when his vision began to fade. He looked down and saw he was shaking uncontrollably, sweat dripping off his face. He knew he must be very pale, but what he didn't know was that his black eyes were still burning with power.

Zoro stood again as their captain began swaying dangerously and took a cautious step forwards.

'Luffy?' His voice wavered slightly, but the swordsman didn't notice.

'Zoro?' Luffy muttered weakly his own voice echoing strangely in his ears and the world spinning slowly making him feel sick. He gave his head a little shake but that only increased the spinning, he stumbled catching himself awkwardly on the doorframe. His hearing began to tunnel in. '...I think I'm going to pass out...' His voice faded away on the last word and the last of the colour drained from his face, he fell.

Zoro gave a yell and jumped forwards quickly to catch his Captain before he made contact with the glass strewn floor.

Silence filled the kitchen for a long moment, as the crew looked at each other, the mess and their unconscious captain.

'Whoa…' Usopp breathed finally, eyes open wide. Tiny pieces of glass still fell to the floor from the shattered panes; the tinkling could easily be heard in the new silence.

'What the hellwas THAT?' The others stared at him speechless, their eyes enormous.

* * *

A/N - Soooo, I finally began typing this one up, only a year after I finished Lost and promised this one would be out soon... sorry. Anyways, I hadn't seen anything like this anywhere and felt like reading a story about magic powers, so let me know what you all think!! Poor Luffy, I'm so hard on him... but he's just so INTERESTING!! I realise everyone especially Luffy is out of character here, but it's AU so that's really to be expected.


	2. The Dream

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.

Forgotten Powers

Chapter 2

'_Zoro?'_ _Luffy muttered weakly his own voice echoing strangely in his ears and the world was spinning slowly, making him feel sick. He gave his head a little shake but that only increased the spinning, he stumbled catching himself awkwardly on the doorframe. His hearing began to tunnel in. '...I think I'm going to pass out...' His voice faded away on the last word and the last of the colour drained from his face, he fell._

_Zoro gave a yell and jumped forwards quickly to catch his Captain before he made contact with the glass strewn floor._

_Silence filled the kitchen for a long moment, as the crew looked at each other, the mess and their unconscious Captain._

'_Whoa…' Usopp breathed finally, eyes open wide. Tiny pieces of glass still fell to the floor from the shattered panes; the tinkling could easily be heard in the new silence._

'_What the hell was THAT?' The others stared at him speechless, their eyes enormous._

* * *

Zoro stood up, with the exhausted Luffy in his arms and carried him downstairs to his hammock in the men's cabin; the others began cleaning up the kitchen in silence. Each was too preoccupied with their own thoughts to make conversation.

A few minutes later, the door opened slowly and Zoro trudged back in, walking gingerly, the glass strewn floor cracking beneath his boots.

'How is he?' Nami asked, holding open a bag for Sanji to tip some of the broken glass he had swept up into.

Zoro gave a half-hearted shrug. 'He's completely out - didn't even flicker.'

Nami frowned in concern but Chopper shrugged. 'I don't know what happened exactly.' The doctor began from his spot on the floor where he was wiping up glass and the remnants of their breakfast. 'It's obvious he was emotionally distressed, and if that physical force.' His voice wavered slightly as he paused to look at the tiny bits of glass surrounding them before clearing his throat and continuing a little more strongly. 'If that _force_ was from his as well, it's only natural for him to be a bit…drained.'

'A bit drained.' Sanji said, with a sarcastic snort.

Usopp turned from his cleaning to join the conversation. 'Did you _see_ how pale he was?' the sniper asked incredulously. 'He didn't even recognise us…' the boy shook his curly head. 'What the _hell_ happened?'

'That's what we're going to find out.' Zoro informed him, removing his swords and placing them in the corner as he prepared to help with the cleanup.

'What?' Nami asked.

'This is that damned witches doing!' Zoro muttered angrily, grabbing a dustpan.

Nami frowned. 'Wait a second.' She began slowly. 'Didn't the woman say _true_ _self _when she cursed Luffy?' Nami asked. 'What if this _is_ Luffy's true self?' they all stared at her incredulously, and she sighed dusting off her hands, standing to carry another bag of trashed glass to the garbage bin under the sink.

'Don't write if off just yet.' She requested. 'How much do any of us know about Luffy… really?' There was a long silence as everyone considered what they really knew about their enigmatic Captain. Nami nodded, her hands on her hips. 'Exactly. Just treat him the same over the next few days ok? Just till we get to the bottom of this - he'll be startled enough as it is.'

Sanji and Zoro stared at each other as they remembered suddenly and in frightening detail what had happened at the execution platform in Rogue Town, when the lightning had come from the heavens to save their Captain from Buggy's sword.

'There's no way.' Zoro mumbled, eyes wide.

Sanji reached automatically towards his pocket for a cigarette then noticed Nami's nose wrinkle in distaste. He signed and satisfied himself by fixing his slightly skewed tie.

'When Luffy wakes up again, we're going back to that witch.' Zoro narrowed his eyes further. 'She got us into this mess, she can get us out of it.' He paused and looked around the kitchen. 'Before something else happens.'

The rest of the crew nodded and turned back to their cleaning. As an unspoken rule, someone would go downstairs every ten minutes to check on their sleeping captain.

* * *

Luffy was dreaming of a place he'd long forgotten. The island he'd lived on before moving to Fuchia Town.

_He was walking through a town painted green and white, his head was down as he stared at the path in front of him and he was keeping to the shadows that were cast by the enormous redwoods that surrounded the tiny village on three sides. The last side was occupied by a well run port which was the main source of income for the tiny village and her people. _

_The boy couldn't have been any more than four years old, but he walked with a fair amount of grace for his age, despite the fact he was clearly malnourished and in need of a bath. All he wore was a very large shirt, its original colour now indistinguishable behind the dirt and stains - the entire garment was now a horrible shade of dirty brown. A simple, rough piece of rope that the boy had found abandoned at the port was tied around his waist as a belt, giving him a little more movement in his baggy shirt_

_He was covered in dirt and scratches and was carrying a large piece of firewood he had found in both arms, intending to use it to keep himself warm the nights were getting a lot colder lately. He might even be able to cook himself some food… if he could find some food._

'_Hey!' A loud angry voice caught him by surprise and he stumbled slightly. _

_The boy flinched as the man walked up behind him, he'd made a mistake. It had been weeks since he'd been seen by a villager. He gulped, desperately working up the courage to turn around and face the man, already knowing from the hostile tone of voice this meeting would not end well._

_SMILE! He told himself quickly, before turning slowly to finally face the villager. A middle aged fisherman Luffy recognised as one of the people who beat him the most brutally stood there, a nasty grin on his face, and a knotted piece of rope dangling menacingly from one hand. _

'_What have we told you?' The man began unpleasantly. The young Luffy continued to smile, hoping he would come across as harmless and friendly and the man would let him go. It never worked, but it was the most disposable weapon in the four year old's toolkit._

_The large man gave the heavy rope a practice swing, the knot making a loud buzz as it cut violently through the air. Luffy mentally winced, but kept his smile firm – he began calculating mentally how far he could get if he ran now. _

'_You know you aren't allowed out in the sunshine.' The man began. Other villagers, attracted by the noise of the man's shouting began to gather behind them and Luffy's escape route was effectively blocked, his legs started shaking. Each of the villagers was eying the little boy with contempt. _

'_If you're out in the sunshine,' The man continued. 'Decent folk can see you…' he paused and grinned. 'You know what happens when decent folk see you?'_

_Luffy began to back away, trying to block out the taunting voices of the other villagers. He stumbled back another step but his shaking legs gave out and he tripped over a small rock in the path, falling heavily to the ground. The firewood flew from his hands and landed with a clatter. _

'_Urgh!' the little boy exclaimed, barely noticing his newly skinned elbow. He clambered to his knees and a shadow fell across the ground, blocking the sunlight. _

_Luffy looked up and gulped again, the man was standing directly above him now, his large form was outlined only by the sun behind him - making him look like a solid block of black, unyielding shadow._

_Without warning the man struck out, the rough rope coming down hard across the boy's back. Luffy cried out in pain and fell to one side, sheltering his head with both arms as the blows continued to rain down on him. The young boy cried out again and again, refusing to cry, but feeling his control slipping. _

_The control that was the entire village's reason for hating him._

_It had not always been like this, Luffy remembered vaguely, as the blows continued, his mind wandering to the one woman who had loved him. She had been old, and the villagers both respected her as a medicine woman and feared her as a witch. She alone had taken him in when his parents had died, sheltering, feeding him and teaching him things she said he had a right to know. Luffy had been too young to understand what she had meant by that, he had not really cared. He'd loved the lessons and learned quickly. _

_So, for a while, the village had existed in a type of symbiotic peace until three months ago, when the old woman had finally died, leaving Luffy in the collective care of the villagers. To begin with they had been too frightened of the powers the old woman had said he had, but slowly, the fear had disintegrated into solid hatred. They hated him for being different, feared that his power would grow to eclipse them all. _

_They now gave him regular beatings, never enough to knock him out, but always enough so that there was no question in anyone's mind who was in charge, who was more powerful. _

_Luffy cried out in pain as a large rock, hurled by another one of the villagers hit him hard on the arm. The sharp pain bringing his consciousness partially back to the beating he was still enduring. He felt his control slip another couple of notches as a cold fear settled in the pit of his stomach. There was something different about this beating… they were not stopping. More rocks and sticks began to rain down as the watching villagers continued to stone him. _

_The boy squeezed his eyes shut and a large tear forced its way out of his eye. He felt the last of his control slip into nothingness._

_The large man suddenly flew backwards as though flung by an explosion. He hit the ground with a dull thump that echoed off the trees and lay unmoving, the knotted piece of rope landing 10 meters further along the path. Silence filled the village, the only sound the man's laboured breathing. Luffy groaned very softly and stood, swaying slightly and panting a little bit from the exertion. His eyes were still closed, blood ran down his forehead and he grasped his bruised left arm with his right to try and dull the throbbing pain._

_The villagers panicked. They ran for sticks and clubs to use on the boy, and ran forwards but before they could reach him, his eyes shot open, glowing with power beyond the villager's comprehension and far beyond what the witch has said he would be capable of. _

_The whole village froze as though encased in ice, birds flying above were suspended in the air, ants stopped marching over the ground and the villagers who were swinging their sticks violently at the little boy found themselves unable to move. _

_As the boy looked at the people who should have raised him when his parents died, but had not because they feared the power he might gain, he felt his eyes narrow in pain and anger and he growled bringing his arms up to fists at his sides. He finally released the last notch that was hanging of his control, setting his power free in a spectacular flash of purple light that could be seen from the next island. _

_The battle was short, but brutal, and an hour later the boy stumbled to the beach, not noticing the large pirate ship in the near distance _

_He sat down on the sand and allowed himself to drift in and out of consciousness._

'_Hey kid!' a friendly voice called up the beach, Luffy looked up, but couldn't focus his eyes. He realised he had no idea how long he'd been sitting on the warm sand. _

'_Any idea what that light was about?' the voice continued, coming closer. Luffy heard a slight gasp as the voice finally reached him, but he found he didn't have the strength to answer. _

_He felt a gentle hand under his chin, lifting his face up to the sun he'd been forbidden from seeing. He didn't have the strength to flinch away from the touch – he was too tired to even speak. _

'_Shock.'_ _He thought he heard the voice say. The world was suddenly much too bright, he closed his eyes briefly, opening them again sluggishly when he felt a strong arm curl around his back, supporting him as the world began to turn grey. _

_A sense of unrealism was wrapping itself around the boy and he found he didn't care what happened next. His last conscious thought was of the voice of the man holding him calling for a person called 'Shanks.'_

Luffy awoke slowly and felt someone's hand on his forehead. It was cool and dry, soft as though well looked after and smelt vaguely of onions and cigarettes.

'Sanji?' He croaked, ignoring the prickling in his eyes that told him there were tears. He kept them closed.

The hand jerked away suddenly, as though the owner was embarrassed at being caught. The young Captain didn't miss the low sigh of relief.

'Mmmhmm.' Was the cook's positive, but distracted response. 'You finally awake?' Luffy could hear the worry in his voice hidden behind the light words.

He squinted a little before, opening his eyes fully and asked. 'Finally?'

Sanji sighed again and handed Luffy a glass of water, watching as he slowly drank it.

'Mmm.' He answered, taking the empty cup back. Luffy noticed that the sun streaming through the semi-closed hatch was approaching sunset. He remembered having breakfast, had he been asleep for a whole day?

'How long was I asleep, Sanji?' he asked a little groggily, attempting to sit up. 'Urgh! I'm sore!' he exclaimed, bending to clutch his chest while his muscles screamed in protest.

'Chopper said you might be.' Sanji supplied, reaching forwards to help his Captain sit up straight.

'So…how long?' Luffy asked, refusing to be distracted as he looked at his chef. Sanji blinked in shock as he realised that although they had dimmed slightly, Luffy's eyes were still glowing with the same internal power that seemed to have destroyed the kitchen. The blonde chef shook his head very slowly, wondering if it was permanent and decided not to mention it to his already disorientated Captain.

'Two and a half days.' Sanji muttered finally. 'You used a lot of energy.'

'Urgh!' Luffy said again, stretching his arms over his head to relieve the cramped muscles. He froze suddenly and lowered his arms slowly, obviously finally remembering what had happened in the kitchen.

Sanji held his breath as he read the look on Luffy's face.

'Are they all ok?' Luffy muttered guiltily, hands dropping to rest in his lap.

'Everyone's completely fine. No one was hurt except for you.' The cook answered firmly, conveniently missing the tiny, already healed cut on Nami's hand that had brought the boy back in the first place.

Under any other situation, and if it had been anyone other than Luffy, Sanji would have sworn vengeance on _anyone_that dared to hurt his Nami-swan no matter how trivial or superficial the wound seemed to be - but the cook had caught one look at the tousle-haired boy's look of guilty anguish and all thoughts of reprimanding him flew out the partially opened hatch.

He sighed again. 'Now the hype's worn off, Chopper and Usopp are saying how cool the whole thing was.' He threw up his arms as though the two youngest crew members were insane. 'I lost my best bowl in that accident,' he paused, mentally berating himself as Luffy looked even guiltier before adding.

'That crap-sniper made me an even better one though. Don't know how he did it, but everything I cook in it tastes like bacon.' The cook shook his head making a disgusted face. 'He said he made it mostly for you, but have you ever had bacon and banana flavoured yogurt??'

Luffy grinned slightly, stopping the chef in his rant. 'They don't think I'm a freak?' he asked softly.

Sanji raised an eyebrow before realising his Captain truly wanted an answer. 'No, definitely not.' He replied firmly. 'But, we all think you should come with us to see the witch when you're up for it. We'd like to be sure of what she did to you.'

Luffy lay back down very slowly his face covered by his black hair, and turned until his back was facing the chef.

'Luffy?' the cook asked startled, the uncharacteristically gentle tone in his voice and the fact he had used his Captain's name showing how worried he was for the younger man.

'I'm alright.' Luffy whispered, squeezing his eyes shut and curling in on himself even tighter.

Sanji raised a disbelieving eyebrow at that, Luffy looked far from alright, in fact he looked on the verge of breakdown. 'You don't want to see her?' He commented, already knowing the answer but feeling the need to say something.

Luffy shrugged but didn't speak. Sanji frowned in concern; his Captain usually wasn't one to show weakness willingly, especially to his crew. This must have shaken him badly for his guard to fall so quickly. Although, Sanji reasoned to himself, with another raised eyebrow -if unexplained powers were coming off him, he might be a little shaken himself.

'You're worried about what she'll say?' Sanji guessed, again stating the obvious.

Luffy's voice came muffled by his knees. 'I don't want you all to leave. Or think I'm a freak.' There was real pain in his voice as he spoke.

'Why would we leave Luffy?' Sanji asked, thinking for the first time that there might be some sense in what Nami had said about the power.

'I remembered when I was sleeping. Being abandoned by my village for something I couldn't help. The tried to kill me, but Shanks came.' Sanji frowned. Something important was definitely being left out of this rather disjointed story, he cleared his throat.

He put a hand on Luffy's shoulder and cleared his throat again, awkwardly. He wasn't very good at heartfelt speeches - that was usually Luffy's department. So with a small sigh and another awkward cough, he settled for the simple truth.

'No matter what happens, we aren't leaving you Captain.' Sanji promised.

Luffy turned large, hopeful eyes to his cook and the blonde chef easily read the expression once again. Not that Luffy was putting any effort into hiding what he was feeling for once, usually all he gave was an enigmatic smile and the crew guessed the rest.

'Definitely.' Sanji confirmed with a solid nod of his head. Luffy grinned, eyes still glowing.

'Now get up crap-captain. We're going upstairs to show the others you're ok. Then we're off to see that witch see what she says.'

Luffy nodded and followed his cook out the hatch. The young Captain grinned in honest happiness at the noises of delight his crew made when they saw he was finally awake.

* * *

A/N – Ah, another chapter done and dusted – it's such a cleansing feeling isn't it? LOL.

I noticed that so far this story hasn't really generated a lot of interest… which I suppose is understandable given that the characters are a little out of character and the story is set AU.

Still though, some more reviews would be really nice… I've never written anything like this before and would like to know what people generally think about it and the style – what you like, what you don't like, what I could be doing better. You guys all write too (mostly) you know how nice it is to get some constructive criticism! LOL

Thanks to the people who reviewed last time – I really appreciate it!! It makes me so happy to open my inbox and see a shiny new review in there waiting for me.

Anyways, check back again in about a week. I have basically finished this story and just need to finish typing it up, so I will try my hardest to get a new chapter put up every week or so.

See you after!


	3. The Witch

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece

Forgotten Powers

Chapter 3

'_No matter what happens, we aren't leaving you Captain.' Sanji promised. _

_Luffy turned large, hopeful eyes to his cook and the blonde chef easily read the expression once again. Not that Luffy was putting any effort into hiding what he was feeling for once, usually all he gave was an enigmatic smile and the crew guessed the rest. _

'_Definitely.' Sanji confirmed with a solid nod of his head. Luffy grinned, eyes still glowing. _

'_Now get up crap-captain. We're going upstairs to show the others you're ok. Then we're off to see that witch see what she says.' _

_Luffy nodded and followed his cook out the hatch. Grinning in honest happiness at the noises of delight his crew made when they saw him up and about. _

* * *

Half an hour later, the whole crew stood before the old witch's store, which had miraculously been rebuilt exactly as it had been before Luffy had destroyed it- even down to the moss on the drains and the crack in the bottom of one of the dingy windows. The crew had been standing outside for a few minutes now, waiting to take their queue from Luffy who seemed reluctant to go inside and face the witch again. Another long moment passed in silence before Sanji finally decided to say something.

'Are you sure you're ok to do this?' Luffy twitched at the soft question and stared at his Chef in disbelief – looking slightly offended that the question needed to be asked at all. None of his crew had ever questioned him before, but then Luffy conceded this wasn't exactly an ordinary situation – even by his crew's standards. Luffy steeled himself, he was still the Captain and this was something that needed to be done, he had never shirked from a challenge before, no matter how difficult it seemed and he would _not_ start now.

'I'm fine.' He muttered quietly still staring at the Chef, the hurt was clear in his hard tone and Sanji blinked in confusion at the unexpected response. Luffy then noticed the concern on his friend's face and offered a rather small smile, realising suddenly that the blonde wasn't questioning his nerve at all, he was just making sure that the rubber pirate was in the right mindset to confront the person who had changed so much of his life so quickly – in reality Luffy had just woken up and the Chef looked concerned that the raven haired boy had not had enough of a chance to reconcile what had happened in his own mind.

'Really, I'm ok.' Luffy confirmed a little more gently. Sanji nodded discreetly and stepped away, ignoring the curious looks the others were giving him.

'...let's go.' Luffy added a bit louder so everyone could hear, he took a deep breath, squared his shoulders and walked right in to the dank shop - his nakama following close behind. It was very dark inside and a few degrees cooler than it was on the street. As their eyes adjusted they noticed a strange smell was permeating the air, it smelt like forest mould, cough medicine and dried fruit. It was not unpleasant, but it wasn't exactly nice either. Chopper sneezed.

'I wish there was some light in here.' Usopp muttered shakily, holding his hands out in front of his face to avoid running into anything in the extreme dim of the shop.

The room instantly lit up when several candles that were strategically placed around the small shop lit up on their own, although the quality of the light was not as good as it was outside – the strange flickering of the candle flames casting odd shadows over the contents of the room. The low light was enough to allow the pirates to see. The room was tiny, but was completely packed with all sorts of strange ingredients, giving the room a cluttered feel. There were barrels of dried fruit and unidentifiable bits and pieces. Garlic and other dried herbs hung from the ceilings and large, dusty jars of things that looked rather sinister lined every shelf.

There was a small wooden counter at one end of the shop and buckets of frog's legs and saffron and other strange and exotic ingredients were standing around it, each with a tarnished silver scoop thrust in the top. The ceiling had several patches in it and the floor was made out of simple packed dirt.

Sanji who was standing next to a large crate of what appeared to be live caterpillars made an odd noise and moved quickly to stand beside Luffy, as far away from the insects as he could get without leaving the shop. He brushed rather frantically at his shirt with both hands.

Usopp whistled. 'And now I wish I had a million Beri.' He looked around expectantly, then shrugged when nothing happened. 'It was worth a shot.' He said sheepishly to Zoro who was watching him with a raised eyebrow.

A loud, cackling laugh filled the room, bouncing off the jars and shaking a thin layer of dust from the ceiling. The crew's heads shot towards a still dark corner to see the old witch sitting in a rocking chair, her old brown dress, although impeccably clean was blending in perfectly with the wooden walls.

'I've been expecting you to return.' She said, her voice again ringing with authority and power someone her age shouldn't naturally possess. She paused, looking the crew over, her eyes pausing on the Captain. She sat forwards in her chair for a moment, before a mysterious smile crossed over her face.

'Ah…' she said softly. She laughed, and this time the sound was much more pleasant, she waved her hand and they gasped together as her form began shifting. Her hair lengthened and unknotted, she shrank a few more inches and her skin lost the grey tinge. She was now wearing a dress in a rich green trimmed with gold and her teeth were no longer pointy. She could no longer be described as a swamp hag, she simply reminded them of an old lady… an old lady with an incredible presence, but an old lady none the less.

The crew was astonished at the sudden change and Usopp whistled again, Nami grabbed at Sanji's arm to support herself when her legs began to wobble at what she'd just witnessed. The Chef was so startled, he didn't even notice. 'What the _hell?' _He and Zoro exclaimed in unison.

The woman laughed again at their expressions. 'Interesting trick isn't it?' She turned back to Luffy who was looking a bit vague – almost like he was trying to remember something, and only had half the details. She smirked a little and spoke, her loud voice jolting him out of his reverie.

'I had no idea you had the gift at the time, but the little lesson I was trying to teach you seems to have worked out for the best after all.' Luffy lifted his head and stared at her in confusion, the rest of the crew looked at her in disbelief. 'You'd forgotten hadn't you?' She asked rather gently, she paused, looking him over again. 'And you still don't know much.'

'What the hell are you _talking _about – what _gift_?' Zoro demanded suddenly, the stress of the last few days finally catching up with him. 'Whatever you did to him, you need to undo it _now_ and turn him back to normal before something gets blown up!' Luffy let out an odd shuddering gasp, which although it was barely perceptible, was heard by the marksman who was standing nearest to him. Usopp raised a hand and touched the irate swordsman on the arm to calm him. When the moss haired man turned to look at him his eyes blazing with fury, he flinched very briefly and flicked his head subtly towards Luffy who was now standing with his head down, black hair shading his eyes as though he was ashamed of something. Zoro blinked in confusion at the uncharacteristic pose and backed down immediately, the anger leaving him as quickly as it had come.

The old woman turned a rather disappointed eye on the swordsman, who was already starting to feel guilty after his outburst.

'I was intending to simply make your friend act his age.' She began. 'But it appears the childish façade he's been hiding behind for all these years had even deeper roots than I thought. It seems removing that block has inevitably unlocked something much more powerful than a little maturity.'

'Unlocked?' Chopper asked suddenly, his blue nose twitching at the strong smell of the shop.

'So that would mean…' Nami began hesitantly, she turned her head towards Luffy who flinched visibly his eyes wide. He was obviously unsettled by the situation and was not handling it nearly as well as he usually did. Nami suspected this new, unusual vulnerability was partially because of the witch removing his ability to hide behind his childishness and partially due to the returning repressed memories of having always had this mysterious power and somehow forgetting about it. The combined effect seemed to have left the young Captain feeling exposed and defenceless - something he wasn't used to at all. Instead of his usual attention seeking behaviour, the young man was now desperately trying to blend into the background – to give himself a few moments to come to terms with what was happening to him. Unfortunately, he didn't have that luxury and was once again the centre of attention, his most unguarded moment was on show for all his crew to see, leaving Luffy uncertain of how to behave.

The woman nodded, her eyes lingering on Luffy for a moment. 'It would appear he's always had the ability, but had somehow managed to block it off from an early age.' She shot another look at the Captain. 'Which is a rather difficult thing to do.' Luffy looked up again and the witch finally noticed the glowing in his eyes.

'Come here child.' She stated, waggling her finger at him imperiously. Luffy raised an eyebrow, but moved towards her without question. 'Give me your hand.' She instructed, grabbing his outstretched hand with hers and reaching into her dress pocket for a piece of stone with the other.

'This is an indicator,' She instructed the group at large – her eyes still on Luffy. 'It glows different colours depending on strength of powers. Yellow is low, blue is slightly higher etc.'

'So it's… a sort of a magical ranking system?' Usopp asked doubtfully, staring at the stone.

The woman snorted with laughter, 'Hardly magical… but yes, that is the general idea.' She nodded and turned back to Luffy who was eyeing the stone rather apprehensively. 'Aha!' the woman exclaimed. 'You've seen one of these before?' To the crew's astonishment, he nodded.

'Oh, I definitely remember seeing one of those.' He said with a wince. The crew looked at each other in confusion.

The woman cackled. 'Your memories begin to come back again I see.' She said rhetorically. 'I don't need to remind you that it doesn't exactly feel pleasant then?' she asked wryly.

'That's an understatement…' Luffy muttered.

She nodded approvingly. 'Do you remember the colour it went the last time you saw one?'

The Captain nodded still eyeing the stone. 'Yeah.' He said a little more strongly, eyes glinting as he watched the woman in front of him. 'It went black.'

The old woman paled. Luffy looked at her half in confusion and half mischievously. 'Yeah, that was sort of the reaction last time.' He said cryptically.

She recovered herself and eyed him. 'How old were you?' she demanded urgently, stepping forward with such purpose that Zoro moved up next to his friend in case the woman should attack again.

'What does his _age_ have to do with anythi…' the swordsman began.

'How old?' the woman demanded again, cutting across Zoro and completely ignoring him.

'…three.' Luffy supplied finally, hesitating slightly – his usually vibrant voice barely above a whisper. She fumbled the rock and it fell from her suddenly slack grip, Chopper dove forwards with a cry and managed to grip it just before the brittle looking crystal made contact with the compacted dirt floor. The little reindeer gave a slight sigh of relief and stood carefully. He took a couple of steps forwards and handed the stone back to the woman, who took it with a grin, her composure apparently completely recovered.

'Thank you dear.' She stated. 'But the Indicator stones are indestructible. This one was exposed to a flow of lava thousands of degrees in temperature a few hundred years ago.' She held it up to demonstrate. 'Not a crack.'

Sanji inhaled slowly through his nose and tried to grasp onto his disjointed thoughts he brushed a hand through his blond hair, making it stand up slightly which gave his usually sleek appearance a ruffled edge. He was unable to think as clearly as usual, the situation was becoming weirder by the minute and he dearly wished he could pause the whole scene and go outside for a much needed cigarette and to gather his thoughts back into working order. He shot a quick look at his Captain who had a strange mix of emotions on his face as he stared at the odd stone in the woman's hand.

The most predominant of these emotions was a look of intense sadness which the Chef had never seen on his friend's face before. The blonde sighed and immediately felt selfish, sure _he_ was feeling overwhelmed by the situation, but it was nothing compared to how Luffy must be feeling the Captain looked submerged in his emotions almost to the point of drowning in them.

'So what's the big deal about the colour?' He asked finally dragging his eyes away from his raven haired friend.

The woman turned to look at him incredulously, before her gaze softened. 'Ah yes… you wouldn't know, how could you, I suppose.' She muttered, obviously talking to herself. 'Black is three levels from the absolute highest power level which is gold. For a three year old to have reached such a level is beyond comprehension.' She actually sounded a little annoyed by the information that such a powerful child had existed.

The crew looked at her and then each other. 'We still don't get it.' Nami finally told her, answering for them all.

The witch sighed and put a hand to her forehead. 'How to explain?' She asked herself, there was a rather long pause until she snapped her fingers and drew herself up to her full height – the candles flickered ominously and Usopp suspected that the sudden increase in the size of the flame had more to do with the witch than any sudden gust of wind.

'Legends tell of a one who will come in a millennium who has a magic so strong it virtually nullifies sorcery.' She began, clearly enjoying having an audience. 'If one were to reach the level of gold on the Indicator stone, all other magical beings on the planet would bow to them. This one person, will eclipse all others with the power.'

She paused again, her hand now shaking very slightly as she held out the stone for Luffy to take. 'Would you care to give it a try?' she asked, smiling slightly.

Luffy sighed and rubbed his forehead wearily, eyeing the stone warily. 'Do I have a choice?'

'No.' Everyone said together.

The captain rolled his eyes and reached out a hand, sighing in resignation.

'This will take a couple of minutes, possibly hours as it calibrates your power's potential.' She informed him seriously.

Luffy nodded, took a breath and grabbed the stone. Instantly it began glowing, calibrating itself to him, a split-second later the stone was glowing a rich, deep gold, and a split-second after that the stone exploded completely – turning to dust.

Silence filled the shop as everyone watched the dust settle. It was Luffy who broke the silence.

'That wasn't as bad as I remember.' He said in surprise, clearly relieved to have put the test behind him, even if he didn't immediately understand the implications of holding a power so strong that it could completely destroy an object that was thought to be indestructible.

The witch was very pale as she watched the glittering sand land on the packed dirt floor. 'You're power goes beyond the crystal.' The witch began, her voice for the first time sounding unsure. 'You obliterated it, it shouldn't have been possible.'

Luffy groaned, looking a lot more unhappy. He was not acting like himself at all, his emotions were bouncing all over the place - his crew watched in concern as he suddenly twitched, his wide eyes shooting up to look at the witch. Her eyes narrowed before widening as well.

'Calm down.' She muttered to the boy.

The barrel of saffron exploded, showering them all with little bits of the red thread. 'I'm sorry!' Luffy gasped, eyes going even wider.

'Calm down!' The woman exclaimed urgently, stepping forwards, the roof began to creak and groan, a large jagged crack appeared all along one wall. 'I'm sorry!' The young Captain said again, the rows of jars beginning to shake. Nami threw her hands over her head as a barrel next to her exploded, Sanji leapt forwards to pull her out of the way.

The witch stepped forwards and reached up to grab Luffy's head with both of her hands; she brought him down to her level so she could stare into his eyes. 'Calm down.' She said in a very low voice.

There was silence for a moment as Luffy very slowly released a breath. The cracking and shaking stopping, the silence only broken by the harsh sound of Luffy's breathing and the gentle dripping from the fluid in the broken jars dropping to the dirt floor. Luffy leaned his hands on his knees, obviously shaken and exhausted by the magnitude of what he had just done. He squeezed his eyes shut and gasped in another breath of air, he was drenched in sweat. After a long moment he straightened up, still breathing heavily. 'Sorry...' he muttered.

'You can no longer rely on the block you used as a child.' She told him gravely. 'Now your power has been recognised by an Indicator as gold you will be unable to block it. You have no choice, you _will _train your powers or you will destroy all who are near you.'

Luffy looked around at the shocked, pale faces of his friends and all his best arguments left him. He squared his shoulders again and looked the witch in the face. 'I made a promise to become King of the Pirates...' he hesitated, touching his straw hat, 'but my nakama are more important… I don't want to hurt them.' He sighed and dropped his hand to his side. 'I will train with you.'

His crew gasped. 'Luffy, no!' Nami yelled.

'What about your dream?' Usopp demanded.

The witch laughed suddenly. 'You do not need to be so dramatic, my dear. You do not need to give up your dreams.' The crew stared at her disbelievingly. 'The training will take one week.' She grinned, holding up a finger.

'A…a week?' Luffy stuttered, his eyes flaring with hope. He stood up straighter and blinked at her – looking more like his old self at the prospect of mastering the power and continuing with his dream.

'How could it possibly only take a week?' Zoro asked finally. 'This training doesn't sound easy, and from the sounds of it, Luffy has a lot of power to learn to contain.'

She cackled again, turning a rather nasty look at the swordsman.

'My dear.' She began, her tone superior. 'It only takes a week in this realm. Where we are going, years will pass.'

The silence that greeted that particular comment was deafening.

Luffy's eyes were narrowed. 'I think… I've heard of something… like that…' he said slowly, clearly unaware he was speaking aloud. The disbelieving glances of his crew shifted from the witch to their Captain, who actually blushed at their scrutiny.

'What?' he asked defensively, crossing his arms over his chest. Everyone shook their heads.

The woman nodded approvingly, ignoring them. 'That will make it easier.'

Nami was frowning in thought. 'Does that mean that when Luffy gets back from his week of training… he'll be years older?' She asked hesitantly, working out the situation in her own mind.

'Yes.' The witch answered simply, as she began packing various things into a bag that didn't appear large enough to hold them. 'But depending on the speed of his progress and his ability to learn, it should not take too long, I would estimate three years.'

Luffy groaned. 'Three years? I'm not going to see these guys for three years??'

'That's correct, however if you train hard it may be less than that.' She stopped packing for a minute to turn and grin nastily. 'I'll keep you so busy you won't have the _time _to miss your crew.' Luffy twitched and looked at her with a clearly disbelieving expression.

Zoro spoke up. 'What exactly is this training?'

The witch began packing again as she spoke. 'Let's just say by the end of it, your Captain will be stronger, faster and more powerful than you can possibly imagine.'

She stood suddenly and grabbed the Captain's hand. Luffy who somehow seemed to know what was happening, waved his other at his crew rather mournfully.

'Bye guys.' He muttered.

'You're leaving _now?_' Usopp blurted. 'As in right _now?' _

'Yep…' Luffy sighed, he was looking at them all carefully, trying to store their faces into his memory.

Another water barrel cracked and the witches hold on the black-haired young man tightened. He grinned sheepishly to show he was ok, and the low rumbling noise that was surrounding them stopped.

'Sooner rather than later.' She muttered, looking over at the dripping barrel warily.

'Doesn't Luffy need to pack?' Nami asked, bewildered at how fast things were moving. 'Luffy doesn't have any spare clothes or anything!'

The witch sighed at yet another interruption. 'Do not fret, child.' She began, ignoring Nami's raised eyebrow at being called 'child' 'He will have everything he needs, I am packing enough for both of us, everything else we need we will be able to create ourselves.' Her grip on Luffy tightened and his eyes widened, her other hand digging into a pocket on the front of her dress.

'See you in a few years!' Luffy said sadly, then he paused. 'Or a few days?' he put a hand to his forehead as though seriously thinking hard.

The witch gave the impression she was about to roll her eyes without actually doing it, then flinched slightly as a jar cracked, Luffy's emotions once again fluctuating at the thought of not seeing his friends for years. She pulled her hand out of her pocket and threw a handful of glittering purple powder over them both. There was a bright flash and the two disappeared from the room.

There was a long, long silence in the strange shop following the departure.

'Ah…' Sanji began finally, looking around them, carefully avoiding the barrel of live caterpillars and something that from a distance looked suspiciously like a giant tarantula in a frame. 'I hope that crap-Captain's done before a week is up.' The chef said with feeling, before making his way to the door. 'I need a smoke.'

Chopper squealed suddenly and jumped to cling onto Zoro's leg. 'What?!' Zoro asked startled. 'What's wrong?'

Chopper buried his face in the swordsman's leg and pointed a shaking hoof at a display of shrunken heads.

Zoro laughed gently, and rolled his eyes – patting the little reindeer gently on the head while Usopp and Nami began to explore for themselves. Everyone was making sounds of disgust at the stock the old woman had. Zoro found himself rolling his eyes again and then jumping as a large rat scurried across his feet and out the door without warning.

He sighed when he heard a startled yell from Sanji who was still smoking outside, apparently the rat had made an appearance.

The swordsman hoped Luffy would be back soon, it was going to be a very long few days.

* * *

A/N – I know, I know, it's a little clichéd. I had to find a way to set up the rest of the story though, so the old '**you are special and have power everyone else desires' **path seemed the best route to get where I wanted to go. Sorry about that, lol.

Also, just because there were a few questions about it last week, in this AU Luffy doesn't have a family – his real parent's died, so it's best to assume Luffy was taken to Fuchsia Island by Shanks when he was really little and left with the same family that cared for Ace. So they're still brothers, but not by blood. Anyway, this story doesn't really go into that relationship, it's just for a bit of background mostly.

One more thing, I have not included Robin, Franky or Brooke in this story (or any of my stories) it's not because I don't like them - I especially love Brooke – I just find it very difficult to try and get any depth in my characters when I'm constantly thinking… Oh, Robin hasn't had any lines for a while… there are way too many main characters to try and work with for the shortish length of my stories.

Also, I know poor Luffy's struggling in this chap, but once he's finished his training with the old witch he'll be his old confident self again.

So yeah, another chappie down, and the story is just starting to get some plot. Whoooo! Let me know what you think, again the story didn't get a lot of interest last week, so let me know what I could be doing better!!! I'm here to improve people; I eat constructive criticism for breakfast! (With my vegemite toast)


	4. The Training

Disclaimer - I don't own One Piece.

Forgotten Powers

Chapter 4

_Chopper squealed suddenly and jumped to cling onto Zoro's leg. 'What?!' Zoro asked startled. 'What's wrong?'_

_Chopper buried his face in the swordsman's leg and pointed a shaking hoof at a display of shrunken heads._

_Zoro_ _laughed gently, and rolled his eyes – patting the little reindeer gently on the head while Usopp and Nami began to explore for themselves. Everyone was making sounds of disgust at the stock the old woman had. Zoro found himself rolling his eyes again and then jumping as a large rat scurried across his feet and out the door without warning._

_He sighed when he heard a startled yell from Sanji who was still smoking outside, apparently the rat had made an appearance._

_The swordsman hoped Luffy would be back soon, it was going to be a very long few days._

* * *

They arrived at the Void in the dead of night, appearing in the middle of a large, empty field. The air felt strange, Luffy noted. There was a kind of non-temperature, neither cold or warm and not entirely comfortable. There was no wind despite the purple clouds swirling very quickly above their heads the strange glowing which seemed to emanate from them, gave everything a purplish-green tinge.

There was no smell and no sign of wildlife . The young pirate noticed however, that the field they were standing in was absolutely surrounded by a thick forest, which had the same unnatural tinge as the grass.

'Woah…' Luffy muttered, looking around with wide eyes, his right hand holding his straw-hat to his head. The witch noticed the movement and smirked slightly. The hat was obviously important to the boy, and the way he was clutching at it now, almost like it was his life-line to reality, showed that he was clearly a bit overwhelmed by the strangeness of the place she had come to term 'The Void'. She watched him look up and notice the two purple moons in the gaps created by the swirling clouds _What_ _will you do now, boy? _She thought to herself - observing him closely. _How well do you cope with the unknown?_

'This place is awesome!' The young-man exclaimed suddenly. The witch rolled her eyes. _Well, that_'_s an interesting first impression of the Void. _She thought, thinking of her own first impression from many, many years ago when she had been brought here by her own master. She remembered it well, she had been so confused to be taken from her world to this strange new place that she had had strange dreams, almost nightmares for months before she had gradually gotten used to it. She gave a wry grin. It seemed her student was much more adaptable than she had been.

She watched as Luffy picked up a small rock and threw it up. Subconsciously willing it to stop before it hit the ground. It did. The witch raised a surprised eyebrow at his untrained control. She assumed it was because the boy had no idea what he was capable of and no idea what was possible in this world, which allowed him to use his powers without realising it. In the natural plane though, Luffy was aware that rocks were not supposed to float and this logic hampered his powers.

The black-haired boy laughed and poked the rock with a finger, still unknowingly holding it up in the air with his mind.

'Mystery rock!' he exclaimed with a laugh. 'So, where are we old lady?' he asked as he finally lost interest and allowed the rock to drop to the ground.

She grimaced at his annoying tone of voice, the excitement of a new place had apparently caused a slight relapse and he was reverting to the childish behaviour he used as a cover_. _He seemed a little nervous which was to be expected when she thought about what he had riding on completing the training successfully.

The old woman was almost positive he wasn't even completely aware he had changed his attitude from the despondent one from her shop, to the more childish one his crew would be used to. She realised there had to be an original reason for him to have created the block as a child, he obviously knew from previous experience that this behaviour was inoffensive and innocent - protective behaviour, he could no longer rely on the block he'd used as a child– but it appeared, now he was more fully aware of what was happening to him, that he could always pretend it was still in place. To throw her off his trail.

_Nowhere near as dim as you claim to be are you boy? _She thought.

'Oi, old lady?' Luffy tried again, waving a hand in front of her eyes. Her eyes narrowed in annoyance. _Then again_… she gave an odd, intricate little wave of her hand and whacked him over the head with the knobbly purple tinged stick that she suddenly held.

'Ouch!' he yelped, sitting down with a bump, grasping his bruised head. 'Where'd that stick come from? What did you hit me for?' he asked accusingly - having trouble deciding which question he wanted an answer to first.

She rolled her eyes mentally. 'That is a simple application of the power we both possess, and one you will be learning.' She informed him, spinning the strange stick expertly and burying the tip deep into the ground. 'Remember this well boy, my name is NOT old woman, you will call me Shishou while we are here - it means teacher.' She paused and he nodded, still holding his head and glaring. She noticed the bewilderment behind his eyes and lifted her hand off the stick, leaving it embedded in the ground.

'Are you prepared young one?' She asked gently, her sudden change in attitude catching him off guard and making him blink. 'The training will not be easy.' She warned.

Luffy nodded, excitement at learning to use his strange powers, sadness at the necessity of having to be away from his friends for so long and the determination to learn to control his power so he didn't hurt them, warred in his eyes.

Determination won easily.

She smiled and nodded in approval _This_ _one is strong._ She thought, and held out a hand to help him up. 'The let us begin.'

* * *

Two days had passed in the mortal plane and Luffy's nakama were having their second breakfast without their Captain.

They were trying a new tea blend of Sanji's with their meal, a mixture of black tea, cinnamon, cloves, orange peel and apple.

Nami sighed in delight at the first sip and even Zoro mumbled appreciatively.

'I wonder if Luffy's getting decent food.' Usopp asked distractedly, choosing a croissant from the plate of pastries in the middle of the table.

'From what I could tell of the woman's kitchen, what he's eating will be nutritious even if it isn't tasty.' Sanji began, efficiently slicing the skin from a piece of melon and then chopping it into bite sized pieces for Nami. 'Barely even counts as food.' He muttered darkly, adding a dollop of cream and sprinkle of sugar before handing the plate over.

'Like what?' Chopper asked, his mouth full of toast.

Sanji helped himself to more tea, sniffing the aroma and taking a sip before he answered - sounding very put out that his Captain wouldn't be eating food to his standard. 'Well, from what I can tell… no meat. Lots of carrot... that's pretty much all she had in the cupboard.'

The others looked at each other, mouths open. 'He's not going to like that.' Zoro muttered through a mouthful of bacon.

'At least it will be nutritious.' Nami stated doubtfully. 'The training will be hard after all…'

'He would have already been there about a year.' Chopper pointed out logically, sipping more tea. 'He's probably gotten used to it by now.'

Surprisingly that thought did not make the others feel better.

'How much longer will he be gone?' Zoro asked.

Usopp licked the flaked pastry off his fingers and calculated mentally. 'Well, I'm guessing each day that passes here is sort of equivalent to a year or so where he is. The old lady said five years, so I'm guessing another four days at least. Unless I have my calculations wrong, which is possible. We really have no idea where he is.'

'Why, Marimo?' Sanji asked with a grin. 'Missing him already?'

'Aren't you?' Nami shot back, interrupting Zoro as he opened his mouth angrily to retaliate.

Sanji hesitated, startled at the unexpected question. 'I... well...' He stuttered, his voice trailed off. 'Yeah, I guess so...'

If the crew had ever needed proof that Luffy was the glue that held them all together, here it was. The crew were managing well enough without him, but now it felt more like a group of closely knit friends rather than a family. Luffy somehow bonded them all together and after only a day and a half they missed him terribly.

Silence filled the room again.

'Well,' Zoro stated finally, viciously biting the edge off a piece of perfectly browned toast. 'Only another few days... nothing we can do now.'

They nodded and returned to their breakfast, the delicious food in front of them suddenly seemed a lot less appealing.

* * *

'Urgh!' Luffy mumbled choking on his mouthful of mashed zucchini. 'Why are we _eating_ this?' He swallowed with difficulty and eyed the bowl in his hand with a rather nasty look. He stabbed at it with his spoon. 'Evil! Evil!' He muttered, taking another reluctant bite.

'I miss Sanji's food!' He whined pathetically.

'No whining!' his Shishou snapped, flinging a fireball at his head. He deflected it without even thinking, too disgusted with his food to really notice it as a threat.

She grinned, he had picked up everything she had taught him faster than should have been possible. They had only spent a year and three months in the Void and already the witch was running out of things to teach him. She thought they would only be spending another few months here and then he would be ready to return to his nakama.

The boy would be very glad to hear it, despite her doing everything possible to keep him busy and distracted, he had still missed his friends terribly. He had not yet realised the full extent of his power - it was beyond comprehension and it would only continue to grow. But she had taught him control as well as everything she knew so he would be prepared.

Her power according to the Indicator was red, five from the very top and though she was herself considered insanely powerful she found there was only so much she could teach him. The rest he would have to figure out for himself.

The witch watched him put another mouthful of zucchini in his mouth and make a face, again wishing for his cook.

They had worked through some of his inhibitions during their time together and Luffy's personality had grown and changed for the better. He had kept his playful side, although now it was more mischievous than childish, and had an appealing new gravity to him, a maturity that could at times be beyond his years.

He flopped to the floor dramatically after another bite and she couldn't help but grin. _Well he's not usually childish. _She thought with a slight grin. She took a bite of her own meal and coughed delicately at the awful taste. _Although_, she considered, _maybe he does have a point this time_.

She rolled her eyes mentally when he held out his bowl - looking a bit annoyed with himself. 'Seconds?' he asked innocently.

* * *

Luffy grinned and jumped out of the way of a lighting strike, rolled and sprang backwards in a flip, firing his own fire ball as he flipped through the air. He didn't wait to see if it had hit, but landed smoothly – continuing his forward momentum to somersault into a large pile of something bushy he had been classifying as blue grass during his time in the Void and held silent for the counter attack.

A moment later a slight whooshing noise behind him alerted Luffy to a large rock speeding towards his head like a cannon ball. He ducked quickly, darting to the left as another pelted towards him along the ground, he concentrated and the rock exploded, the fragments that would have cut him bouncing off a shield he'd created around him.

Silence filled the clearing, Luffy closed his eyes, panting only slightly. A long moment passed and he remained crouched where he was, unmoving - his breathing gradually slowed, and he continued to wait taking long, even breaths.

There was a crack to his left which sounding like a mountain snapping in half and his eyes shot open, widening temporarily as massive balls of fire and earth began attacking from all directions. He narrowed his eyes and stepped into a cat stance, wind-milling his arms around his body and morphing the ball into a cyclone of fire. He guided the cyclone around his body once, allowing it to gain momentum before setting it on it's way - he estimated the original source to be somewhere to his left, near where he had heard the snapping noise of the earth being extracted. The cyclone roared fiercely- the spinning increasing as it flew away from him.

Luffy heard a slight gasp and his teacher materialised and attempted to deflect the fire. It didn't work. She cried out as it drew closer and she covered herself with a thick sheet of water, there was a loud hissing as the flame met the water and steam sizzled up. The flames disappeared revealing his Shishou, dripping slightly and panting with exertion.

Luffy grinned again and the battle temporarily ceased. His rubber powers were not allowed in these training sessions, his Shishou wanted him to get used to relying on his newly discovered powers while he was in the Void. The witch was encouraging him to use them for everything and after more than a year they were beginning to feel so natural he sometimes found himself using them without even thinking.

'Nice work.' She said with a grudging approval as she waved a hand and dried her clothes off. 'You have improved greatly. Once you return you will be able to combine the powers you have learned to control with the powers you gained from the Gomu-Gomu no mi. You will certainly be a force to be reckoned with.'

Luffy put his hands on his hips. 'I'm already a force to be reckoned with!' he whined.

'No whining!' She snapped as she flung a quick fireball at his head.

He deflected it without thinking and they both smiled.

'On that note.' She started with a rather evil grin. 'It is time for lunch.' It was a sure sign of how much he had changed over the last year when Luffy actually groaned at the thought.

* * *

'I can't wait any more!!' Usopp yelled out suddenly, throwing his hands into the air and flinging himself down on the packed dirt floor of the witches kitchen dramatically.

'Calm down already you crap sniper!' Sanji yelled, shaking pepper into the large pot of tomato, spinach and feta soup that was their lunch. He spun around when the timer on the oven went off, signifying that the handmade rye and caraway seed bread rolls were ready to be served with the soup. 'And get up already, that floor is filthy!'

'But, I'm so _bored_!' The sniper wailed. 'Chopper's busy and no one else will play with me.' He rolled onto his back in frustration, staring up at the dusty ceiling of the store. 'I want Luffy back…' he sighed.

Sanji shrugged. 'You'll just have to wait, he'll come back when he's ready.'

'I know,' Usopp said quietly, still lying on his back.

'Mm, it smells delicious!' Nami stated, following Chopper and Zoro into the kitchen.

Zoro raised an eyebrow when he noticed Usopp, still sulking on the floor. 'What's with him?' he asked Sanji, nodding pointedly at the sniper.

'Don't ask.' Sanji mumbled. 'Lunch is just about ready, everyone take a seat.' He gestured with one hand, the other giving the soup one final stir before he began to ladle it into bowls. The delicious scent wafted throughout the dingy kitchen, making it feel more like home.

Usopp sighed dramatically, when the delicious smell reached him, his stomach rumbled and he finally stood – walking dejectedly over to the table and plonking himself down.

After a moment, Sanji sat with his own bowl and the crew began to eat silently. The only sound in the dark room was the clinking of metal spoons on the china bowls.

* * *

Two more months had passed since the day Luffy had first beaten his teacher in one of their training sessions and he had improved more than the witch had ever dreamed possible. He was still fond of 'playing the fool' as Smoker had once accused him, but he now gave off an unmistakable aura of power - even when he was grinning like a madman, which gave the impression that he was definitely a force to be reckoned with.

Luffy had always had a strong presence when he was angry, but now it surrounded him all the time – even when he was sleeping. It was incredibly comforting to the old witch, she couldn't place how, but she was certain his crew would find it so as well. His enemies however, might not be quite so pleased to come up against the new Straw-hat Captain.

They had that morning reached the stage where Luffy did not even break a sweat defeating her. She grinned up at him proudly her own face was coated in sweat and she was panting harshly.

'I think it is time for us to return.' She informed him.

'Really?' His eyes were enormous. His teacher nodded and smiled.

Luffy yelled in delight and jumped into the air, punching it with his fist. He landed and spun around to look at her, a massive grin on his face.

'I have a really fun idea!' He exclaimed, his glowing eyes twinkling even brighter at whatever mischievous scheme he was toying with.

The old woman found she couldn't prevent a very slow grin crossing over her own face. 'Have you just?'

* * *

A/N - Mwahahahaaa! Luffy returns home in the next chappie. What will the others make of their new Captain? Review, come on - it's so not that hard. Just click the little button and tell me what you liked or didn't like. Anyways, I'll have the net chapter up in a week or so - it will go a little deeper into the story behind Luffy's training.


	5. Home again

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.

Forgotten Powers

Chapter 5

The Strawhat crew were just finishing off their meal of the tomato, spinach and feta soup Sanji had made, the caraway seed rolls he had removed from the oven were still steaming slightly.

Nami sighed and pushed her empty bowl away. 'That was delicious, thank you Sanji.'

The cook grinned and was about to answer when he was cut off by a bright flash of light and a twinkle of purple glitter. Zoro stood suddenly, the chair he was sitting on falling to the floor with a crash.

'Luffy?' he exclaimed, rushing forwards, waving his hands in front of his face to try and dispel some of the thick smoke so he could see.

The smoke cleared gradually, revealing the forms of two people. The witch, and interestingly enough an iron haired old man, who looked as though he would fall if he wasn't leaning quite so heavily on his large wooden staff.

They stared for a long moment between the witch and her strange guest before the old man shot an undecipherable look at the woman standing next to him, then wobbled forwards with one of his arms held wide, the other still tightly grasping the staff for support.

'Hey guys!' He cried his old voice shaking uncontrollably. There was a long pause.

'L…LUFFY???!' Usopp blurted, his jaw dropping to the floor in horrified shock. The rest of the crew gasped, examining the old man more closely and finally noticing the familiar smile behind the wrinkled face.

'What the _hell_ happened to you?' Sanji demanded, staring open mouthed at their Captain.

The old man wobbled to a stop and looked at them in slight confusion. 'What do you mean?' he quavered, looking at the witch behind his as though for help.

'I _did_ tell you the amount of time he spent training in the Void would depend on his ability to concentrate.' The witch stated dryly.

'But, he's gotta be 90 years old!!' Nami shrieked.

'Luffy…' Chopper's eyes were enormous.

Their Captain grinned. 'Don't worry guys, I'm still gonna be King of the Pirates!' He stood up straight and wobbled when he lost his grip on his walking stick.

'Ah!! My back!' he gasped, bending over and wobbling precariously.

There was a long, long silence.

Finally, Luffy snorted, unable to take it anymore and began to chuckle, he glanced at the old woman and she too began to laugh softly.

His crew stared open mouthed as their geriatric Captain began to laugh helplessly, the wizened old crone chuckling at his side, Luffy clutching the stick to prevent falling, and the woman shaking her head. They laughed and laughed and the crew continued to watch in horrified shock.

'I told you!' Luffy managed to gasp out finally, getting his laughter under control- his voice suddenly sounded much younger. 'The looks on their faces!!' He stood up still chuckling and shakily wiped a tear from his eyes. He gave a great shuddering sigh and grinned again at his crew.

'That was fun!' the pirate exclaimed, he gave a strange flick of his hand, making the staff he was leaning on disappear into thin air. With both hands free his balance suddenly seemed a lot steadier - he waved both hands over himself gently, and the crew watched in amazement as he began to glow very slightly and then began to morph back into his original form.

He grew taller, the wrinkles covering his skin began to melt away, leaving behind a youthful face, his hair became black again and he grinned at them.

They continued to stare. 'Ummm… sorry guys.' He muttered as the silence continued. 'I couldn't resist.' Still they continued to stare, looking a little startled. Luffy looked over his shoulder at the witch for help, she shrugged simply, a rather knowing smile on her face.

'Guys?' He asked, rubbing his hand through his black hair and leaving traces of purple glitter, he looked very sorry that his prank had caused such an extreme reaction in his friends.

'You…' Nami stopped and swallowed lightly. 'You look really different.' She finally stammered, a light blush staining her cheeks.

'I do?' Luffy asked, looking at his arms in confusion as they expecting to see spots. The others nodded silently.

He had grown, although he was still shorter than Zoro and Sanji by almost half a head. His features had matured, his face having lost its childish roundness and now appeared more elegant somehow, a little sharper.

His eyes were still enormous, but it was their colour that had everyone gaping in shock. They were no longer the chocolate brown they had been when he had left to go on his training, they were now a silvery grey. They were still warm, kind and incredibly expressive, not at all cold as could have been expected from the colour.

Power was radiating off him in waves but he didn't seem aware of it, he held himself differently with a new easy confidence that made being in his presence somehow even more comforting than before.

His cheeks were flushed from laughing and his eyes, which still glowed with the internal power, were twinkling with the aftermath of his prank.

His crew couldn't help but stare; there was no mistaking that he was no longer their childish Captain.

'Your eyes…' Chopper began in a whisper.

'How did you do that?' Zoro half demanded finally, interrupting the little reindeer without realising. 'Disguise yourself I mean.' He clarified with a dismissive wave of his hand.

'Ah!' Luffy laughed delightedly, putting his hands in his pockets casually, making Nami blush slightly. Grey eyes suited him, she decided then, she tucked a strand of orange hair behind her ears.

'Just a little trick I picked up.' He stopped and sniffed suddenly.

'Food?' he asked, looking around. His grey eyes shifted across to the table. 'FOOD!!' he cried leaping forwards and sitting down at the table, grabbing a plate and pulling it towards him. After a mouthful he paused and closed his eyes in bliss. 'Real, _Sanji_ food…' he murmured.

The others looked at each other and grinned as they moved to join him at the table. His table manners were still more polite than they were used to before the witches spell, he was actually chewing instead of swallowing the food whole. But hunger and the need to eat real food for the first time in a year and a half was causing him to use his rubber powers to stretch for the food, just like old times.

The old witch grabbed a bowl herself and took a hesitant sip, her eyes widened. 'Very nice.' She managed to say.

Luffy snorted into his soup and dunked a whole bread roll into it before transferring it to his mouth. 'Compared to your mashed zucchini a dirty rock would taste '_Very nice'_. This is the best thing I've _ever_ eaten!!!' he exclaimed at his chef who looked very pleased at his Captain's praise and grinned at the compliment.

The old witch lifted a hand automatically and shot her usual fireball at the attitude of her student, Luffy deflected it without thinking. Taking another huge bite of food and making a noise of appreciation.

Silence again filled the room and the two new comers looked up at the sudden quiet, then the old witch looked at her apprentice.

'Ah…' Luffy breathed, putting his spoon down gently, looking at the smoking hole in the wall behind him where the fireball had ended up. '…oops.'

The old woman sighed and rather regretfully put down her own spoon. 'Explanations are in order I think.'

'Wait!' Sanji stated holding up his hands. 'I have a question first, how old are you Luffy?' Luffy looked up at his chef in surprise before frowning slightly in thought.

'Ummm… we were away for a year and a half?' he looked over at the witch who nodded. 'Then I'm… 18 ½… I think.' Sanji nodded a little, he had been wondering at the sudden increase in his Captain's maturity.

It had actually been a little unnerving for the Chef, saying goodbye to his uncharacteristically distraught friend two days ago, only to have him replaced by a person who Sanji couldn't help describe as suave and much more confident in himself. It was like this person had been inside the Luffy they knew the entire time and had simply been hiding from them.

Although, the blonde cook realised, with the block that had been preventing Luffy from using his powers it was entirely possible that Luffy's maturity had also been locked up as well. As his maturity was blocked Luffy had been unable to grow as quickly emotionally as others his age, giving the impression that he was slightly slow.

He sighed softly to himself letting his eyes take in the new image of his Captain, this was going to take a fair bit of getting used to, and from the somewhat awed looks on the faces of the rest of the crew, he wasn't the only one who had some adjustments to make. Sanji jerked back into reality to find the questioning was being continued.

'What happened to your eyes?' Chopper demanded, his doctor side curious.

Luffy chuckled. 'You know, I never asked.' He turned to the old lady. 'Any idea's, Shishou?'

Sanji and the others grinned. More mature and powerful or not, it was good to know he was the same old Luffy. It didn't really matter to him if his eyes had mysteriously changed colour, as long as they still worked.

The witch nodded. 'That happened in your 6th month of training if I remember correctly. You're power spiked and your body wasn't ready for it. The increase changed your eyes, made them paler.'

Luffy nodded at that, apparently satisfied at the response as his crew looked on a little shocked.

'So, oh grand and wonderful leader.' Usopp started, poking Luffy with a carrot stick. 'Care to tell us what happened?'

Luffy nodded, eyes sparkling mischievously, the effect a lot different than when his eyes were their original chocolate colour. 'Shishou kept whacking me till I had enough power to stop her, then she taught me some other stuff and we came back here.'

The crew sweat-dropped and the witch cleared her throat, rolling her eyes. 'I'll tell the story then will I?' She asked sarcastically.

'Please…' Nami agreed. She watched their Captain continue eating, his eyes still sparkling with laughter. With a sudden jolt she wondered if this was his plan all along, he hadn't wanted to tell the story, but listen to it with his friends instead.

Feeling her eyes on him he flicked his grey ones to meet her light brown ones and his smile widened, unconsciously confirming her suspicions.

'Very clever…' she muttered, her mind trying to process the idea of a Luffy who thought ahead. He rested his head on the palm of his hand, his elbow leaning on the table, his expressive eyes not leaving hers.

'Never thought I'd hear you say _that_.' He grinned at his navigator.

'Never thought I'd _mean_ it.' She answered, returning his smile. She paused for a long moment and looked at him appraisingly. 'You really _have _changed.' Her tone of voice a little more admiring than she would have liked.

He chuckled again and leaned back in his chair to hear the story about his training, rubbing the back of his head a little sheepishly, a light blush staining his cheeks.

Nami stared at him for a moment deciding a blushing Luffy was a very endearing sight. She again marvelled at how far their immature Captain had come, emotionally and physically. Her heart was pounding rather quickly. An after effect she never thought she'd experience after a conversation with her _Captain_ of all people.

She blushed slightly herself and turned her attention to hear the story, brushing a strand of wayward hair behind her ears.

'Where to start?' the woman pondered to herself. 'Ah!' She drew herself up in her chair wrapping her beaded shawl more tightly around her shoulders as she began, clearly getting into character for the telling of her story.

'It began about a year and a half ago, we had been in the Void for around a week and I have to say your Captain seemed to be adapting to the strangeness with more ease than I would have ever expected – especially considering the vulnerability of his thoughts and mind after having his block removed for the first time in around 15 years.'

* * *

_Luffy_ _looked up at the purple and green clouds that were swirling over his head and wiped his sweaty brow with the back of his right wrist. He was trying to construct a shelter for his teacher to live in during the training, it has been the first task assigned to him by his teacher and she was sitting not far off appearing to pay absolutely no attention to him whatsoever. _

_Why Luffy had been given the task he wasn't sure. It never rained in the Void and other than a slight breeze that blew when they least expected it the weather was constant, day after day. There were also no native creatures so they didn't have to shelter from predators. _

_Overall, Luffy found building the little construct both useless and incredibly frustrating. He had never had to do anything like it before in his life and really had no idea where to begin. _

_Another few hours into the day, Luffy lifted a large log he had just cut to try and balance it on the precariously structured hut. He lifted it gently, placing it very carefully on the roof, then let go and very slowly backed away – breathing out a sigh of relief when after three heartbeats the structure stayed... it toppled without sound or warning like a card house and Luffy screamed in frustration. _

_He kicked one of the logs in anger and was surprised when it stayed floating in the air. It was only then that Luffy remembered the rock he had made float on his very first hour in the void. _

_The pirate groaned when he realised he had wasted the entire week trying to construct the hut by hand when all along this gravity defying power had been at his disposal. Luffy sank to the ground and began to laugh helplessly holding his forehead with one hand, he laughed and laughed until his stomach began to cramp up – relief and annoyance at himself flowing out. _

_He jumped slightly as the old woman's voice sounded from next to him – the young man hadn't even heard her approach _

'_And that is lesson one learned.' She announced with the ghost of a smile on her face. _

_Luffy_ _continued to laugh weakly for a few moments before asking a question. 'Do I still need to build the hut?' The smile on the woman's face widened marginally and she waved her staff. The piles of wood rearranged themselves, forming a neat little hut in three seconds. She raised an eyebrow in answer and turned her back, walking away slowly. _

'_I'll take that as a no then, will I?' He called rather obnoxiously. She fired a fireball over her shoulder and he yelped in surprise, diving to the ground to avoid it. _

'_What the hell?' he gasped, looking wide-eyed at the scorch mark in the earth where the fireball had landed. _

'_Now, my dear.'_ _She said over her shoulder. 'Now that you have realised that the power is actually within you... your real training can begin.' She beckoned over her shoulder for the young pirate to follow her as she walked back into the trees. _

_Luffy_ _felt a strange thrill of anticipation and shivered involuntarily. He smoothed his sweaty hair back from his forehead with both hands and grinned to himself. The sooner he had this training completed the sooner he could go home to his nakama without fear of hurting them by accident. _

_He ran to catch his teacher before she disappeared completely. Wondering how long it would be before he learned that cool fireball trick._

* * *

_Luffy_ _had now been in the Void for six months, and although he had learned the basics and how to control them, he was still not able to use them on the scale that his teacher had been expecting from someone with his ability. She was beginning to get frustrated with him. _

'_No!' She cried as he again failed to make a fireball bigger than the palm of his hand. 'Like this!' She demonstrated for the hundredth time, instantly and effortlessly creating a fireball the size of her head with a wave of her hand. She banished it with another flick and rested the same hand on the top of her staff. _

_Luffy_ _watched wearily, he had been trying to create a ball that big for six months now and had still had no luck. He was not the sort of person to give up so he was still optimistic that he could do it, but he was beginning to wonder if he really had the sort of power the witch expected him to have. He watched the demonstration with a critical eye, trying to figure out where he could be going wrong. _

_He scrunched his face up and began to concentrate his entire mind and thoughts on creating a fireball that was at least as big as his head. _

'_More!' She barked, the ball reached the size of his hand and began to sputter. Luffy gritted his teeth and forced more energy into his fire ball, sweat began to roll down his face. _

'_MORE!' The witch demanded, banging her stick into the ground. Luffy gasped for breath his legs beginning to shake with fatigue. 'You have more in you than that!' she yelled. _

_The fireball sputtered once more before going out completely, Luffy fell to his hands and knees, his black bangs plastered to his forehead, sweat dripping down his face to land on the dust underneath him. _

_The old woman stared down at him appraisingly, it was obvious the boy was putting everything he had into it, and it was also obvious that despite his boundless determination Luffy simply could not create a ball that was any larger, she was confused with his level of power this should be remarkable easy. _

_An idea suddenly occurred to her. 'It is possible...' she began slowly, as Luffy continued to gasp for breath. 'That your mind has had more difficulty letting go of the block you placed on it as a boy than I thought.' _

_She stopped to rest her elbow on her other hand as she thought. 'Now... how to remove the rest of it.' _

_Luffy_ _finally heaved himself to his feet with some difficulty and stared as his teacher. _

'_Come here.' She told him in the same imperious tone she had used six months ago when he had first come to her shop. _

_He shrugged and moved towards her, still breathing a bit heavier than usual. 'Now, what I'm going to do now might hurt. But, if it does work as I think it will it will remove any of the block that remains and may be stunting your powers.' _

_Luffy_ _nodded. 'If I can get home to my nakama sooner, I don't care.' _

_She grinned at the predictable answer. 'This will most likely feel very strange.' She told him as she placed a wrinkled hand on his chest. _

_Luffy_ _nodded. _

_The witch took a deep breath and slowly began to pull her hand away from Luffy's chest – bringing with it a long oval bubble of red transparent glowing thread. _

_Luffy_ _gasped and gave an odd shudder, gritting his teeth together as the woman slowly pulled the rest of the block from his body. _

_For five long minutes the witch continued slowly pulling – not daring to go any faster should the fragile bubble of thread break forcing her to begin again. Luffy stood, his shaking growing more pronounced as his body tried to reclaim the thread block and his mind tried to relax and let it go. _

_Finally, the last of the thread was pulled away and Luffy fell backwards, throwing his arms out behind him as he sat heavily on the ground. His eyes were huge and slightly glazed over. 'Urgh!' he groaned, running a hand over his eyes. The witch dropped to her knees next to him. _

'_Feeling alright?' she asked with slight concern. _

_Some of the glazed appearance faded away to be replaced by a look of total bewilderment. 'Whoa.' He muttered, standing upright. 'I actually feel really good. Much better than last time you did it with that glowing green ball thing.' _

'_Last time was intended to teach you a lesson, this time I was simply trying to remove the block. Now, try the fireball again – I want to see if you experience any improvement.'_

_Luffy_ _nodded , clambering to his feet and still looking rather bewildered. The he scrunched up his face as he had before, this time determined to create a fireball larger than his hand. _

_He concentrated hard, his hand flickered once before starting to glow. Suddenly, with a low whoosing noise a fireball the size of a house was hovering over them, created within an instant and without Luffy even breaking a sweat. _

'_Whoa.' Luffy muttered, closing his eyes briefly and allowing the residual power was over him. He was completely unaware that his whole body was glowing brightly. He looked at his teacher. 'I feel all tingly.' He told her, still holding the ball over his head with one hand. _

'_Now _that's _a little bit more like it.' She observed turning to her student and noticing that his eyes were glowing a strange silver colour. _

'_Let the ball go.' She advised. He did with a little difficulty and although the glowing in his eyes wasn't as pronounced now he had released the ball, they remained grey. _

'_Interesting, it appears your power has spiked with the removal of the block.' She observed, leaning forward to stare critically at his eyes. _

'_Things should now begin to get very interesting.' She told him, making a note to watch the rest of his training very carefully. If his power could spike that much with the simple creation of a fireball she was in no hurry to see what would happen to his body if he were to attempt something larger before she had prepared him. _

'_Time for a break.'_ _She advised. 'Training will commence this afternoon.'_

_Luffy's_ _newly grey eyes were wide and a little startled at his accomplishment and the witch decided that they suited him, almost as though there were always meant to be that colour. _

_He nodded at her, unable to keep a vibrant smile from crossing his face. She nodded in understanding, she remembered the first time she had conquered her own barriers and unleashed her true power. The feeling of absolute freedom that had come with it had left her exhalant for days. _

_She knew that the best thing for her young student now was to rest, it would help no one if he burnt himself out. His powers really were more extraordinary than anything she had ever witnessed. If he were to overuse them who knew what would happen._

* * *

_After the block had been removed Luffy had responded with far more skill and natural instinct than she had ever expected someone to be capable of. _

_They'd long ago moved onto the combat arts which Luffy already had an aptitude for thanks to his training as a child and battles as a pirate – and Luffy had already begun to experiment with things his teacher wouldn't attempt, such as long distance teleportation._

_They'd only been training for a little over a year when she began to run out of things to teach him. She was so confounded by this that one night after their training she actually asked him rhetorically how he could progress through his training so fast. _

_He'd looked at her and decided to provide an answer, one with a simplicity she could never have understood. _

'_I'm going to finish quickly here because I still need to become Pirate King back home. I can't let my nakama down by making them wait.' He often took her by surprise – but this time she couldn't help but believe him. _

'_You just might at that.' She muttered to herself, standing and brushing at her skirt. The dirt in the void didn't move unless they forced it to – everything seemed content to stay exactly what it was – but she was an old woman and the habit was deeply ingrained. _

'_Ok, Pirate King.' She began, making Luffy grin. 'Time to do the dishes.' His smile fell only slightly as he created a bucket of soapy water from thin air and began to scrub. He had a sudden idea and slapped his own forehead with a groan. The black haired boy experimentally picked up one of the dirty plates and banished the food from it. The plate was left sparkly clean _

'_Oh, duh.'_ _He groaned. _

_Chuckling laughter could be heard from the bushes. 'I was wondering how long it would take you to realise.' She gloated. 'Every meal for a year you have created the bucket of water when you could have just cleaned the plates instead.' She emerged to stand next to him. _

'_How rude!_ _You could have told me!' Luffy accused her, a little embarrassed. _

'_It's been one of the highlights of the past year for me, why ruin a good thing?' she questioned. 'You are still incredibly slow on the uptake sometimes, but don't be too hard on yourself. I expect a lot of that is just habit.'_

_She patted him once on the shoulder mockingly and shuffled away still chuckling. She stopped and spoke, her back still to him. _

'_Maybe when you get back to your nakama, they'll be able to beat a little logic into you.' She spoke offhand, but Luffy had been living with her for a year and a half now and understood the unspoken promise. _

_He brightened even more. 'How much longer?' _

_The witch turned her head to face him. 'If you continue at this rate, I'd say we're almost there, just another few weeks.' _

'_Yes!' The young man stood quickly- knocking over his bucket of water with his foot, before grabbing his teacher around the waist in a massive hug._

'_Thank you!' he muttered into her shoulder, and she was surprised to hear his voice shaking slightly. 'Thank you, I don't know what I would ever have done if I'd hurt my friends because of this.'_

_She sighed and allowed a soft smile to cross her own face, then awkwardly reached around and patted him on the back. 'You're welcome.' _

* * *

'And so,' the woman concluded. 'The remaining three weeks passed quickly while your Captain polished his skills and we returned.'

The crew stared at her, the summary had taken no longer than 10 minutes and they were sure that there must have been quite a bit left out of the re-telling, but it was still incredible to think of anyone with the sort of power Luffy had.

Zoro turned to observe his Captain who was sitting with his head resting on his hand, watching the reaction of his nakama rather calmly.

To say the swordsman had been startled by the change would be an understatement. He had been with Luffy the longest and it was well known that Luffy simply did not change. He was a constant, which the moss haired young man now realised was simply partially the result of that strange block he'd used as a child.

The swordsman had to admit though, from the impression he'd received so far from his Captain, it appeared he was even more formidable than he had been before he left - and much more well-rounded as a person. It was obvious he was still very much Luffy, the prank when he had arrived had shown them that – Zoro noticed now, that the most major change seemed to be that Luffy was capable of thinking things through more thoroughly. Something the swordsman thought would be of great benefit to the whole crew. It could be very tiring following Luffy through a town, having to constantly be on edge, never knowing when he was going to say the wrong thing or start a fight.

It was strange, the boundless optimism of their Captain before the block had been removed had seemed so natural, but now - compared to this new Luffy the previous one, seemed almost strained in comparison. So much so that Zoro couldn't help wondering if maybe some of his Captain's previous over-effervescence hadn't been a slight act to make him seem non-threatening. Only now that some of Luffy's demons had been exorcised during his long training and he was no longer hiding this part of himself was he finally able to act his own age.

Luffy turned, abandoning his scrutiny of his crew members when he felt his swordsman's eyes on him and smiled a little nostalgically. 'You all look exactly the same.' He observed so only Zoro could hear – unknowingly giving the man an insight into his thoughts.

'It _has _only been three days here, you know?' Zoro pointed out.

'Three days...' the Captain muttered looking around quickly once more. 'This is so _weird_.'

Zoro grinned, it looked like everyone had some re-adjusting to do.

Ussop watched this exchange silently. Luffy was no longer his own age, but closer to Zoro and Sanji, so when he had first reappeared the marksman had originally thought that he had lost a playmate in his Captain who would no longer want to spend time on deck with the two younger members and although he had hidden it well, the Marksman had been profoundly sad. Now though, after watching his captain's exchanges with the rest of the crew, he realised he'd been wrong.

Luffy may have changed slightly, but his grey eyes that seemed to constantly sparkle mischievously told the Marksman that a Luffy who was mentally older might prove to be even more fun. Usopp turned to find Chopper's eyes on him and realised the little reindeer was thinking much the same thing.

'You know...' Usopp began in a low voice, 'I have a feeling that Luffy's new abilities are going to make pranking the others on the Going Merry a lot more fun.'

Choppers eyes widened. 'You're right!' He shot a quick look at their Captain to find him chatting with Sanji, his hands were in his lap, toying mindlessly with a serviette - which he was somehow manipulating back and forward into a little paper ship, obviously completely unaware that he was doing it.

'Our games are going to be so much fun now!'

* * *

Lunch was just winding down, and Sanji and Chopper were collecting the dirty plates and clearing the table.

'Thanks again Sanji that was the _best_ thing I've ever eat... Urgh!' Luffy exclaimed breaking off suddenly and flinching violently at the same time as the old witch. He put a hand to his head. 'What was THAT?' he asked with feeling. 'It felt like a bolt of lightning going through my head.'

'Luffy?' Nami asked, watching in confusion.

'That young one means that there is someone with a lot of power who has just realised you exist.' His Shishou told him, holding her own forehead.

Luffy looked at her blankly, and then looked around at his crew to see if they could help. They stood there with confused looks on their faces, and when Luffy's eyes met Zoro's the swordsman shrugged slightly.

'Meaning what?' Luffy asked finally. 'There are heaps of people with lots of power that know I exist.'

'Meaning,' She began, exasperated. 'That a very powerful person with abilities similar to your own is going to be after you. You possess the gold power, if they defeat you they inherit it.'

'Oh…right' Luffy said, nodding as though that made perfect sense, he looked around at his crew still nodding before realising he had no idea what she was talking about. 'Hang on…what...?'

'How can someone just take it away?' Usopp asked, grinning a little at his Captain's bewildered expression.

The witch shook her head. 'It's one of the mysteries surrounding the gold power.' She stated. 'Every thousand years there is one who possesses the gold power, but two who could wield it. One is pure who will use the power not for personal gain, but for everyone.' Here she nodded at Luffy who flashed a peace sign. She rolled her eyes and continued. 'The other is dark and corrupted and wants to use the power to conquer others. Every millennia a battle takes place between these two forces a fight for power and a fight for soul,' she paused. 'because if the light loses your soul will become corrupted as well, or you will be killed and there will be no hope for redemption.'

Luffy looked at his teacher with a raised eyebrow. 'You couldn't have warned me about this during the year and a half you were teaching me to use them?'

She shrugged. 'It never came up.'

Luffy rolled his eyes in tolerant acceptance, unaware that their little banter had given the crew an insight into what training for a year and a half with the old witch had been like.

Zoro snorted, suddenly very glad he had been able to remain in the present. He didn't want to think what the old witch would have done to him if he'd lost his temper... he made a mental note to ask Luffy about that later. The other boy was well renowned for having a temper similar to Zoro's own and the swordsman couldn't imagine putting up with an attitude like that for a year and a half without retaliating once.

Sanji reached out and patted Luffy on the shoulder. 'No pressure then.' He said lightly.

Luffy grinned at his Chef then looked at the witch with a raised eyebrow. 'What's the big deal?' He asked, crossing his arms. 'I just need to beat him right?'

His crew groaned and the old witch chuckled.

'Yes, indeed if you can do that, there is no reason to worry.' She affirmed.

'Then that's what I'll do.' He said with a smile at his teacher. 'Deal with it when it comes up.' He paused and his teacher looked at him carefully, reading his face.

'You're leaving.' She said, it was not a question.

He nodded, grey eyes a little clouded and for once unreadable. 'We're going to continue our journey – our dreams won't wait forever.' He said waving his arm to indicate his friends.

The witch opened her mouth to argue, but it was Zoro who interrupted her. 'There are already people after us.' He reminded the witch. 'We aren't going to wait here and hide while we wait for some guy to find us. We'll find him first.'

'And fulfil our dreams at the same time.' Nami added firmly.

Luffy's shishou nodded approvingly at the young crew who were standing firm, looking resolute, and Luffy grinned proudly.

He stood and bowed low to his teacher. 'Thanks for everything.' He said sincerely, his voice a little softer than usual. 'I'm glad to have met you.'

'I understand.' She answered, her eyes were bright as she looked at her student of one and a half years. 'Take this with you, you may need to speak to me in a hurry.' She handed the grey-eyed boy a black and silver bracelet which he looked at a little warily. He held out his hand to take it from her, jumping a bit when he felt how cold it was.

'Thanks.' He muttered again, slipping it on. 'For everything.' She smirked again and wiped discreetly at her eyes with the back of one hand.

'Take care…' she said, for the first time sounding worried. Luffy smiled and bowed again, then he turned and walked straight out the door. His crew bowed to the old woman and Nami thanked her for looking out for Luffy, before the slightly startled crew followed their Captain out the door.

They caught up with him three houses later where he was leaning up against a fence, he turned to look at them, silver eyes shining even more strongly now they were out in the sunshine.

'Hey.' Usopp greeted casually, Luffy grinned.

'Don't you think that departure was a little…' The cook paused to grab a cigarette, but was unable to find a match. He frowned and broke off, distracted by his new task.

'Sudden?' Luffy supplied, watching his cook still searching around for a match.

'Here.' He said finally when the blonde's movements became a bit desperate. Luffy held up his hand, a thin trickle of flame climbed up, circling his extended finger before leaping up to light Sanji's cigarette.

The crew watched in awe. 'That was cool!' Chopper exclaimed.

Usopp grinned then whispered to the reindeer. 'Our games are going to be SO cool now!'

'Thanks.' Sanji mumbled, apparently deciding to take it in his stride. Luffy grinned again at the easy acceptance, he'd done it again without thinking. He wasn't trying to show off his powers, but after he had been encouraged for a year and a half to use them every opportunity he had gotten very used to them.

He now found them so natural that he kept forgetting he was around normal people now and some people might be startled or even frightened. It was like when he had first gotten his devil-fruit powers, but he had gotten used to those and he was getting used to these. They were just another part of him.

'If we hadn't left Shishou's house she would have tried to get us to stay with her. The longer we stayed the harder it would have been to leave.' Luffy had his hands in his pockets as he walked, a new habit he had picked up. Nami had the impression he was doing it to seem less threatening.

Luffy grinned again, an unreadable expression crossing his face. 'She doesn't seem like it, but Shishou gets attached very quickly. It would have been hard to leave once she'd gotten to know you guys too.'

They neared the dock and Luffy stopped in his tracks and sighed suddenly as he caught sight of Merry. It was a heartfelt noise and they looked back at their Captain in confusion.

'MERRY!' He exclaimed, smiling broadly. 'I've missed you!' He grabbed the rails with his rubber arms and rocketed himself onto her deck with a shout of joy.

In that instant, it finally sank in for the mugiwara crew that though their Captain had only been gone for two and a half days their time, in his reality he'd been gone for a year and a half. They could hear him running around on her deck, reacquainting himself with his pirate ship and grinned at each other when they heard a loud crash and a muffled yell.

'Oh, it's good to have him back.' Sanji muttered sarcastically, but was unable to contain a small grin.

The others grinned and followed their Captain. They found him on the ram's head, laying flat and hugging it with both his rubber arms and legs. Usopp laughed and shrugged at Nami who was shaking her head.

'I'm going to get started on dinner,' Sanji muttered, crossing the deck. 'Chopper, come with me, I need help shelling peas. Chopper followed wordlessly.

Nami watched with a slight grin. 'I've got to make a start on mapping this island.' She announced, flicking her hair over her shoulder and sauntering down to her cabin - leaving Zoro and Usopp standing on the deck.

A few moments passed and they found their eyes unconsciously finding their way to Luffy who was now lying on his back on the rams head, watching the setting sun.

Zoro smirked. 'Enjoying the sunset Luffy?' He asked across the deck.

Luffy's voice responded, but their Captain didn't move, his voice sounded vague as though he were halfway to a quick nap. 'Yeah… nice to see clouds that aren't purple and swirling for a change.'

Usopp looked at Zoro, a very strange look on his face. 'Did he just say…?'

'Yep.' Zoro muttered dryly, deciding not to ask Luffy what he'd meant. Usopp laughed and shrugged. 'Same old Luffy.' He walked away to start painting the invention he'd finished three days ago, before all this had started.

Zoro found himself grinning a little bit as loud snores began to echo across the deck from the ram's head.

'So it seems.' He muttered to himself. He turned and grabbed some weights for an afternoon workout, it had been almost three days since he'd had the time for a proper one.

Zoro smirked as he began to lift impossibly heavy weights with one hand, he might not be able to fling fireballs from his hands but he could still lift three tonnes with one.

He smirked again as he finished his first set of repetitions. The green haired swordsman had never denied being competitive.

* * *

A/N – hey. First of all a massive thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, I really, really appreciate it. ^_^ Secondly, I know this chapter is really long, I was going to cut it in half – but realised that would ruin the flow of the whole thing… so yeah, the next chapter should be back to the normal length. As this is one of my favourite chapters in the story though, I didn't want to mess it up _too_ badly. So please try and read it the whole way through – the next chapter continues directly so it's kind of good to know.

Lastly, thanks to everyone who is saving this story as a favourite and adding it to their alert lists, it makes me feel really good to know so many people want to know where this is going. I only ask that if you like it enough to mark it as a favourite or an alert, you send me a quick message to say why you liked it enough to alert it. Was it the interaction between the characters you liked or just found the plot vaguely interesting?

I'm working on another fic at the moment (Luffy-centric of course ^_^ I just love messing with the poor boy) and I would love to get some feedback on which bits of this are successful and which I might be able to incorporate into my new fic.

Anyways, the next chappie will be up next week. It will get a little angsty over the next few chapters and Luffy will get _really_ angry at the people on the next island, I might need to bump up the rating too – I really don't know how this rating system works though – so if you ever notice the rating doesn't fit the content, please let me know! lol. I have a habit of making my villains, really, really evil.


	6. The Doctor

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece

Hi everyone, just to let you know – I received a rather nasty review regarding the last chapter and just thought I'd tell you what I told them, and explain to you all why I think flaming any story, not just mine is ridiculous.

First of all, writing fanfiction in general is an incredibly self-indulgent past-time. For example, when I first thought of writing this story, I wanted to read a One Piece story that involved magical powers of some kind, I couldn't find any so I wrote my own. I didn't write the story with you in mind, I wrote it because it is a challenge for me.

The story is clearly marked as an AU, so if you don't like, don't waste your time by reading it. There are many stories out there which have hundreds of reviews which I don't like myself, which is just a difference of taste in reading material. It doesn't mean the person who wrote it didn't try their best, it also doesn't mean that just because YOU don't like it there aren't other people out there who will appreciate the different style.

Some people take their fanfiction way too seriously, I am not a professional in any way, and I can't be expected to write like one. I do my best, that's all I can offer to you all.

So yeah, just thought I'd get that out of the way first – on with the story!!

Forgotten Powers

Chapter 6

* * *

Luffy was dreaming.

_He was with the old lady who had loved him from the village where he was born. He couldn_'_t have been more than 3 years old and was staring curiously at the rock she held in her hand. _

_She was saying something to him, but he couldn_'_t make out the words, he could only hear the worried tone in her voice as she explained something to him. There were tears running down her face and she began to tremble as she held out the stone. _

_Luffy_ _looked at it, it was a pretty stone, jaggered and shiny but very smooth. He saw his face reflected in it and reached out a hand to take it. The old woman gave a slight sob as he took it and held it in his tiny fist. _

_A strange light began to emanate from the stone and Luffy held it closer to his eyes, trying to figure out how a rock could be glowing like that, a small pain began to prickle his hand and he looked at it in curiosity. The stone began to glow blue and the prickling pain in his hand was forgotten. _

_He stared at it curiously for a moment and the stone pulsated, the prickling in his hand increasing to a sharp pain. The stone began to glow green and the pain in his arm began to intensify and spread along his arm. Luffy gave out a distressed cry and tried to drop the stone, but his hand wouldn_'_t open. He gave it a little shake and then held it out to the old woman, silently asking her to take it away. _

_She gave her head a sad little shake and had to lean up against the old log that was used for chopping firewood. Tears were now steadily coursing down her cheeks, but Luffy didn_'_t notice. The stone gave a funny little shake and a quick pulse that spread out with an odd noise, a rippling effect began and the grass around the field flattened suddenly as though blown by a gale wind. The stone began to glow black and Luffy barely had time to register the old woman_'_s gasp of shock before he screamed in pain. _

_He screamed and screamed as the stone pulsated, seemingly trying to rip the power from his bones. His subconscious saw the old woman, her beautiful red dress now in rags as she came towards him and lifted him - carrying him in the direction of the village doctor. She had some medical knowledge, but this was beyond her capabilities. _

_Luffy_ _vaguely felt his hand release the stone, and he faded into blackness. He didn_'_t hear it hit the ground. _

_He awoke suddenly a few hours later and sat up with a slight gasp. He was in the room that served as the village hospital. It smelt like herbs and dried fungus and the bed he was in was hard, like wood that had been covered in material. There were no sheets and no pillow. _

_He sat there for a long moment as he realised something big had happened, he knew he felt different, but was too small to understand how he had changed. He knew he felt like he had more energy and he also knew despite that that he was very sore. Like the day he_'_d spent all day outside chasing butterflies across the forest floor, diving and crawling and running and jumping - only _this _pain was a million times worse. His head hurt terribly, his vision seeming to dim when every beat of his heart sent searing pain across his temples. _

_He lay back with a slight groan and heard the door to his room open. The fisherman who was known as the village doctor stepped into the room with a case in his hand. _

'_Ah,_' _he began in a deceptively mild tone Luffy didn_'_t like. _'_I see you_'_re awake._' _He stepped towards the tiny boy, a smirk on his face _– _holding out a bowl of plain rice. _'_Are you hungry?_'

_Luffy_'_s stomach growled and the man gave a short bark of laughter, no humour in his tone. Luffy felt strange, like he wasn_'_t really in his own body, he felt like someone else watching something bad about to happen. The world looked over bright and his hearing seemed too sensitive. _

'_You are? Well, be a good boy and you can have it._' _He said, putting the rice to one side and reaching over to pull out a small knife. _'_I_'_ve_ _been waiting for a change to see you in here boy._' _He muttered, fingering the knife lovingly. Luffy began to fade out again as the pain in his head increased. _'_That_'_s right, go to sleep. I need to take some of your blood._'

_The little boy_'_s eyes shot open again with a dull scream when he felt the sharp tip of the knife cut into his arm. _'_No, be quiet you stupid freak!_' _the man hissed, backhanding him across the face the force knocking him back. _

_Luffy_ _looked at him shocked, a hand to his cheek and his huge eyes seemed even bigger than normal. He was very pale and his lip started to quiver. _

_The man snarled and grabbed his arm, pressing the knife tip down harder to bite into the little boy_'_s flesh. Luffy whimpered and a sudden pulse of his power flashed unwillingly from his hand - pushing the doctor back and knocking the knife from his hand. Blood trickled in a small stream down the boys arm and off his hand, dripping to the floor. _

_He whimpered again as the man stood slowly, fury darkening his features. _

'_You little bastard._ _You freak!_' _The man bent and picked up the knife deliberately, he was panting slightly in anger. _'_We can_'_t let you live with that freak power, you_'_ll_ _kill us all. The best thing is for you to die here._' _He walked forwards, stepping lightly the knife glinting from the sunshine streaming through the window as he held it lightly in his hand. _

_Luffy_ _whimpered again and huddled up into a little ball on the hard bed. Hs sore muscles screamed at him as he moved and he gasped in a quick breath. He squeezed his eyes shut as the doctor advanced, when he was about five steps away from the vulnerable boy he lifted it above his head. His arm flashed as he brought it down hard _– _aiming directly for the little boy_'_s chest. He stopped when the door blew inwards. _

'_Stop_' _Came a low voice from the doorway. _'_If you move, I will KILL you._' _The man paused as a wave of terror washed through him, he spun slowly to see the woman in the doorway, she was glowing slightly and there was such an absolute fury on her face that the man knew she was more than capable of carrying through with her threat. _

'_Get away from him._' _She demanded again stepping forwards. The man dropped the knife and stumbled backwards, tripping over his own feet. He stared at her wildly. _

'_Please…_' _he began, his eyes darting as she moved towards the trembling little boy. _'_Don_'_t kill me._'

_She touched Luffy_'_s shoulder gently and he flinched, his arm lashing out wildly to bat her away, then he cried in pain when he pulled his tired muscles. Her eyes narrowed and she turned to the man. _

'_You dare beg for your life when you were about to kill an innocent? _'_The fury in her voice was giving it a rough edge and the man gulped, righteous anger sparking in his own. _

'_Innocent? You call that monster innocent?_' _He demanded. _

_The woman raised herself to her full height, and although she was not a tall woman, and was three times the man_'_s age she held herself with pride, the power emanating off her was palpable. _

'_He is a pure child,_' _she said. _'_His burden was being born special, with powers you and the rest of this backwater town will never understand. Being born into a village where he will be persecuted for being different._' _She picked up the little boy with a strength that belied her age and moved towards the door slamming it shut behind her and locking it with her power, she did the same with the windows. _

_The man began to pound on the door of the bedroom as she moved slowly away, carrying her precious little boy who had fallen into a restless sleep. Both physically and mentally exhausted after having his power tested and being terrorised by the doctor._

_The man began to scream and the woman heard a chair break as he threw it against the window in an attempt to break the glass. She smirked to herself as she walked, feeling better now that she had Luffy safe in her arms and she could see for herself that he was uninjured. She tweaked the spell a little on the windows and doors, tying it off so it would remain without her concentration. _

_It took the villagers five days to get him out again. _

_

* * *

_

Luffy woke slowly to the sound of Sanji calling them for dinner. It took him a moment to realise where he was. He grinned to himself as he stood up and jumped off the ram's head, stretching his arms over his head.

_That was a long time ago_. He thought to himself. _I_'_m stronger now, and Chopper would NEVER do anything like that._

The Captain moved towards the kitchen with his hands again thrust into his pockets. He knew there was no longer any need to fear doctors or knives, he was strong enough now to deal with it himself.

He walked in to the bright kitchen out of the darkness and the smell of the food as well as the brightness and noise of conversation made him pause in the doorway for a moment, grinning as he surveyed his friends. It was so good to be home.

He stepped in and sat down at his usual spot at the table, Zoro coming in the door behind him. Sanji put a large plate of pumpkin and spinach ravioli and a big joint of meat in front of Luffy as an entrée. Luffy sniffed it in bliss, then grabbed the joint taking a bite, it was tender and moist. 'Oh, I missed this.' He muttered with his mouth full.

Sanji grinned and moved on to serve the others. 'Main course is basil roast potatoes, asparagus with feta and sundried tomatoes and roast beef. Dessert is chocolate brownies with whipped cream and homemade rum and raisin ice cream.' He stated as he passed out the plates.

Luffy, Usopp, Chopper and Nami all made noises of delight, and Zoro briefly grunted in approval at the mention of rum and raisin ice-cream.

'You're the _best_ cook _ever_.' Luffy said with feeling as he filled his mouth again.

Sanji smirked. 'But of course.' He agreed, taking his own seat.

* * *

½ an hour later, dinner was almost finished and the crew were considering moving onto dessert. Luffy couldn't understand why, but he was finding being back with his crew after a year and a half away from them to be strangely overwhelming and he was utterly exhausted by the chatter.

Oddly enough, or perhaps not as the blonde chef had an uncanny knack of knowing everything that went on in his kitchen, it was Sanji who noticed first.

He had been serving dessert when he'd looked closely at his captain, he wasn't sure if it was the time he'd spent away training, or the new colour of his eyes, but the Chef was finding it much easier than usual to read his Captain – and right now, but the almost dullness of the grey eyes and the slight hesitation with which he took his plate, his body language was clearly screaming to the young chef that his friend was totally exhausted.

Sanji sat down in his own seat and began to eat his own dessert slowly, focussing more on watching his Captain as the black haired boy carefully cleaned his plate. Once he was finished the Luffy looked up at his chef. 'Thanks Sanji, you're the best!' His voice was a little more low key than it should have been and the chef made a sudden decision.

He nodded. 'You're welcome...' he began, his tone carefully neutral. 'Why don't you go and have a quick bath why everyone else finishes up?'

The rest of the crew looked up, a bit surprised at the uncharacteristic suggestion and were even more surprised when Luffy actually stood.

'Good idea.' He agreed. 'I haven't had a real bath in ages.' He stretched as he stood and walked towards the door, leaning very slightly on the doorframe when he reached it, which also tipped Zoro off. The swordsman and the cook exchanged significant glances.

'I'll take first watch tonight if you like.' Zoro suggested, trying to sound offhand.

Luffy looked back over his shoulder gratefully. 'Thanks Zoro.' He said, obviously meaning it. It was Luffy's turn to take first watch but for once he was happy to pass it onto his friend.

He turned and exited the room, making his way downstairs to the boy's cabin to grab the things he needed for his bath.

'Ok, what was all that about?' Nami asked when their captain's footsteps had faded away.

Sanji bent to pick up Luffy's plate and placed it into the sink of hot water. 'He was exhausted.' He told them simply.

Zoro snorted and poured himself another drink. '10 Beri says he doesn't even make it to the bath, but just goes straight to his hammock.'

'Is he alright?' Usopp asked with slight concern.

'It's nothing to worry about,' Chopper added, putting down his own spoon and wiping his hooves on a napkin. 'I should have warned you actually, but as it's only been three days in our time I didn't realise.' The little reindeer stood up on his chair so he could reach the bowl of ice cream in the middle of the table, and helped himself to another scoop as he continued talking.

'After a year and a half away from his family and living all alone with the witch woman – plus the emotional and physical drain of his training as _well_ as being away for as long as he was only to return and find that only three days has passed is a big deal. It's only natural that even Luffy would have a bit of trouble readjusting to normal life after that.' The little reindeer spooned another mouthful of ice-cream into his mouth – his ears flapping in delight at the flavour.

'All he needs is a good night's sleep, he'll be back to his old self in the morning.' The little doctor predicted.

* * *

It was around an hour later when the boys bid goodnight to Nami and made their way down to the boy's cabin for bed. No one was really surprised to find their Captain sprawled in his hammock, on his back with one hand over his stomach and the other hanging over the edge. His sandals were still on his feet, and although his mouth was slightly open he was apparently too deeply asleep to even snore.

Usopp grinned and shrugged at the other three boys helplessly, moving forwards to remove Luffy's sandals while Zoro put on an extra coat to ward off the chill of the night in preparation for the watch.

Normally Zoro would never volunteer for an extra shift, he didn't do well in the cold and by habit, had trouble staying awake if he sat down for long periods of time. But as he glanced over at his sleeping captain, his unruly hair hanging over his eyes, and his cheeks slightly rosy from sleeping he knew he'd do it again.

Usopp bent down gently to place Luffy's sandals on the floor under his hammock, but as he stood, the ship lurched slightly and Usopp stumbled, catching the corner of Luffy's hammock with his arm and causing it to swing slightly.

Everyone froze, staring at the Captain – but all he did was twitch slightly and sigh before settling back down.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and unfroze, Sanji kicking Usopp lightly in the head.

'You crap-sniper!' He hissed, a little louder than he intended. 'Be more careful!'

'I'm sorry,' Usopp wailed, clutching his head where it had been kicked. 'Merry lurched and I lost my balance.'

'You lost your balance?' Sanji asked incredulously. 'You've lived on a ship for how long now? The ship moves slightly and you lose your balance?'

'Leave it eyebrow. It was an accident' Zoro put in, buttoning up the front of his jacket.

'Eh?' Sanji demanded.

'Stop it!' Chopper suddenly hissed at them, gesturing towards Luffy who was now sitting up in his hammock staring at them in confusion.

'Huh?' He asked tiredly, his hair even more mussed than usual. The glowing of his eyes, which was apparently going to be a permanent feature, was even more pronounced in the dim light of the lantern lit room.

'Sorry Luffy' Usopp whispered.

'Go back to sleep.' Zoro told him quietly, unfurling a blanket and covering his captain's legs.

Luffy smiled softly and all at once his crew was struck again by how different he looked.

'I missed blankets.' He told them absently, stroking the soft material automatically with one hand.

'You didn't have blankets?' Chopper asked, knowing his patient needed rest, but unable to help himself. The whole crew knew that the brief 10 minutes summary that Luffy's teacher had given couldn't possibly have covered the entire experience.

He shook his head, skill quite obviously half asleep, the others suspected he wouldn't even really remember having the conversation.

'Shishou was nice to me, but there were a lot of things missing. It wasn't like here, I just did my best so I could come home quickly and sail with you guys again.' He yawned and turned to lie back down.

The others exchanged glances, that one simple sentence from their half asleep friend had given them more insight into Luffy's state of mind over his training than the entire summary provided by his teacher.

No matter what he'd learned and how long he'd been away, all he'd wanted to do was to get good enough at controlling his powers so he could come home without worrying about hurting his nakama.

'Sounds lonely...' Usopp muttered quietly, changing his shirt and watching Chopper pull the blanket up over their already sleeping friend.

Zoro grunted in acknowledgement and stumped up the stairs to the deck to start the watch.

'Well he's home now.' Chopper added, crawling onto the couch where he slept. 'That's what matters.'

Sanji sighed to himself as he changed, he hadn't meant to snap at the sniper, but had been unable to help himself. He'd make something special for breakfast as an apology. He leaned into his hammock and gave a sigh of relief, apparently the past few days had been more draining on everyone than they'd realised.

He'd get up slightly early to relieve Zoro for second watch to ensure they all got a proper night's rest.

* * *

'Land ho!' Usopp called from the crow's nest, his voice echoing over the calm water they were sailing though.

It had been three days since Luffy had returned to the Going Merry and life was beginning to return to normal. It hadn't taken Luffy long to readjust to the crowded and noisy life onboard – but then life had never meant for Luffy to live in solitude.

The young captain looked up from the game of poker he was playing with Zoro and Chopper. He grinned and dropped his cards to the deck, before springing to his feet and launching himself into the crow's nest with his rubber arms.

Usopp squeaked slightly at his friend's unexpected appearance, then smiled and rolled his eyes in tolerant acceptance.

'Where? Can I see?' Usopp's smile stretched into a grin as Luffy bounced up and down, his grey eyes sparkling silver in his excitement and the morning light. The curly haired man snickered and handed the eye piece to the Captain.

'Over there.' He told him, pointing to the upcoming island.

Luffy grinned and looked through the tiny telescope, then whistled softly. 'Wow, look at the funny mountain.' He breathed.

Usopp reached up to pull one of his eye pieces down so he could have a look at what Luffy was seeing.

'It... looks like a volcano.' Usopp muttered, zooming in closer. 'Yup, definitely a volcano.'

Luffy gave a squeak of excitement and leaned back from where he was sitting on the edge of the crow's nest, his back to the deck.

'Oi Luffy. Watch out!' he exclaimed.

Luffy simply looked at him curiously as he continued to lean back, finally losing his balance completely and beginning the long fall to the deck.

'Oi!!' Usopp yelled in concern as his captain began to plummet. He ran to the edge and leant over as far as he could.

He stopped himself from calling out again when he heard the familiar excited laugh of a certain black-haired pirate. He shook his head when he saw Luffy flipping through the air and gave a low sigh of relief when Luffy landed with remarkably little noise, somersaulted on the deck and then flipped again landing with his arms stretched out like a gymnast.

Chopper was clapping loudly at the newest stunt, his eyes the size of dinner plates and Zoro was shaking his head with a small smile on his face at the younger man's antics.

'Nami, an island!' Luffy yelled, running into the kitchen and out of Usopp's sight to tell his navigator and cook the exciting news.

Usopp leant on the rail of the crow's nest and sighed again in good humour. 'I thought he was supposed to be more mature now.' He mumbled to himself, turning to climb out of the crow's nest and climbing down the rigging a little more conventionally. Moving into the kitchen where the rest of the crew were already discussing docking procedures.

* * *

AN – Well that's it, please let me know what you think. Positive or constructive feedback is welcome. You will find my views on flaming at the top of the story if you care to have a look, lol. The next chapter MIGHT be a little late, I have quite a bit on in my own life at the moment (YAY Christmas!!), but I'll try to update as regularly as always.


	7. Devil Fruit

Hey everyone I'm really sorry about the delay getting this chappie up – I ummm... lost my USB stick that had the story on it. Hahaha! So yeah, hopefully this chap will make up for it, and the next ones should continue to be posted pretty regularly.

On with the story!!

**Forgotten Powers**

**Chapter 7**

* * *

20 minutes later the entire crew was standing on the deck, docked at an island Nami had told them was called 'Omelette Island' much to Luffy's delight - she'd quickly gone on to explain, that no, the island wasn't _made_ of omelette. The reason it was named after them is that with it'd odd, central volcano, it simply looked like a cracked egg from above.

'Luffy and I will go into town for provisions.' She informed them as she doled out their percentages of the money they'd earned on the last voyage.

'The rest of you are free to do whatever you like, just make sure you are back here by sunset.'

'But, Nami-swan...' Sanji began, faltering quickly under the ferocity of the red-haired woman's glare.

'Yes, Sanji-kun?' she all but snarled.

'Nothing...' Sanji muttered, a little taken aback by her sudden temper.

The others left quickly to finish securing the Going Merry so they could take their shore time. Which left Luffy and Nami alone to walk to the town.

'Hey, Nami, are you ok?' Luffy asked in concern. Apparently Sanji hadn't been the only one to notice her sudden temper.

She sighed and pushed her red hair back from her face with one hand, letting the cool sea breeze blow over her skin. 'Yes... I just sometimes get a little annoyed with Sanji's constant attention.' She admitted.

Her eyes widened slightly when he actually nodded in understanding, his new silver eyes glittering in the sunshine as he stared at her thoughtfully. He thrust his hands into his pockets as he walked along and smiled.

'I can see how it would.' He stated. 'But Sanji is Sanji, and Nami is Nami – you'll always manage to keep him under control.' His smile widened and he grabbed her by the wrist. 'Now, let's get those provisions!'

Nami blushed slightly as she was led along, she kept forgetting that Luffy had changed. Before he had done his training, Luffy would have simply looked at her blankly pretending not to understand. But now, he had just given her some insight into his previous captaining technique.

He had never abused his position, instead preferring to keep himself as a third party in the many personality differences that were inevitable among a crew so varied and independent. He understood that it was more important for the crew to reach compromises among themselves, rather than interfering at every sign of dissention. Only involving himself occasionally when things became too heated for the limited space that was available on the Going Merry. Even then, he made sure to only involve himself as a mediator, focussing on the issue and never taking sides. Somehow though, he had managed to do all this with none of them realising he actually knew what he was doing.

_Wow,_ she thought. _We really were stupid for ever thinking Luffy was an idiot_.

'...mi. Hey, Nami!' She looked up quickly to find Luffy's expressive silver eyes inches from her. She squeaked slightly and took a step back.

He put his hands in his pockets and tilted his head slightly. She suddenly noticed that they had come to a complete stop in the middle of the path. She blushed when she realised she must have stopped walking while she was thinking.

'You ok? I called like three times...' Luffy told her.

Nami nodded slowly, trying to keep her blush from rising even further as she stared at him.

'Right...' Luffy said a little doubtfully, but obviously deciding to let whatever had distracted her go for now. 'Well, as I said... where is everyone?'

Nami looked around her realising suddenly that they hadn't passed or seen a single person since docking. She shivered and goose bumps rose on her arms – she rubbed at them absently, still looking around for any signs of life.

For the first time she noticed that although the stores of the market place they had entered had their doors open like any other town, all the signs hanging from the windows were cracked and faded and everything was covered in a thin layer of dust - including the items for sale on the shelves. Nami felt a strange shiver pass up her spine, the town was clearly deserted, but still seemed to be trying to give the impession it was still lived in. It was very disturbing and Nami shivered again.

'No...' she began slowly. 'I haven't seen anyone eith-mmpf!' she broke off suddenly, when Luffy put a hand over her mouth and pushed her into an alleyway off the main street.

'MMPF!!' she tried again.

'...ssh!' Luffy whispered suddenly, the intensity behind his eyes bringing back her goose bumps. 'Something isn't right...' he breathed, mostly to himself. He closed his eyes briefly, while Nami watched him in confusion. 'Someone's coming!' he announced very quietly, pulling her against him firmly and stretching his other arm up to catch hold of the eve of the shop above. He launched them silently onto the roof and they flattened themselves to the brown, mossy tiles. They looked down into the still deserted street for a long moment.

'Luffy, wh...' she broke off as she turned to him, searching for an answer to his strange behaviour. His eyes were closed again and he looked like he was concentrating hard. 'Ssh...' he muttered, eyes still closed. 'I can feel them coming.'

Nami's eyes widened and she stifled a gasp as all of a sudden a group of around 20 people all dressed in dark, obscuring cloaks filled the clearing. They poured out of every alleyway, running swiftly and silently – she shot a quick look at her captain who was watching the men below with interest.

The red-haired navigator turned her own gaze to the street when two of the men began speaking quietly, only metres below their hiding place.

'This is the last street.' The shorter of the two informed the other, who was apparently the commander. 'If there were any more pirates we would have caught them here.'

Nami gasped lightly. _The others!_ She thought suddenly, shooting another glance at Luffy who was looking down on the men intently.

'Excellent work.' The taller began. 'Prepare the crew, at sunset we offer them to our Lord. It is not a large offer, but it will be large enough to keep him satiated for another year.'

The other man nodded and waved a strange signal with his hand, the surrounding men disappeared the same way they had come, swiftly and silently, leaving the two men alone in the middle of the street.

'Come,' the taller man began. 'Preparations must be undertaken immediately.'

'Luffy...' Nami muttered, watching the two men walk away. 'We need to _do_ something!'

He nodded, grey eyes looking more serious than she had ever seen him. She was still not really used to this new Luffy who actually thought things through. The old Luffy would have simply stood up, revealing both of them and tried to defeat all the men head on.

He now seemed to realise that the people on this island were missing some crucial details when they chose Luffy's crew. They didn't know their pirate mark, they didn't know how many people were members of the crew, and most importantly – they didn't know who they were dealing with.

The navigator felt an odd shiver pass over her as Luffy transferred his gaze from the now empty street to her. The depth of emotion behind them was so intense she forgot how to breathe. She gasped in a little breath of air – not breaking eye contact. _And we thought he was formidable before... _She thought, realising with a sudden jolt that although they had had Luffy back for awhile now, the crew hadn't run into any trouble. This would be the first time she would watch him fight since his training.

Sure they had gotten used to him using his powers in little ways around the ship. Furling and unfurling sails while standing on the deck below, and lighting the stove when Usopp's new invention the 'water boshi' had suddenly exploded in the kitchen soaking everything, were just a couple of examples – but he had only used them for superficial things, which were done with seemingly no effort on his part. As she continued to stare into his eyes which were now glittering with pent up anger aimed at the people who had dared to touch his crew, she actually found herself pitying anyone who messed with him.

Nami was broken out of her reverie when Luffy looked back down into the street and saw that the men were almost out of sight.

'Ok...' he breathed, tightening the arm that was still holding Nami safe and secure to the roof. 'Time to go.'

Nami shot one more look at her captain as he uttered those two soft sentences. She could almost see the rage radiating off him, like a heat haze on a summer's day. Externally he was still calm and perfectly in control of his emotions, still able to think clearly during the crisis without getting hot headed. She grinned a little and suddenly found herself wishing that the rest of the crew were here to see him.

Luffy suddenly swept her up and off the roof, landing lightly in the shadows created by the buildings. She marvelled at the fact that even though he'd had her extra weight, he had made no noise at all on his landing. He released her and made a 'shh' gesture by bringing a finger up to his lips. She nodded, feeling a determined frown cross her own face. Luffy nodded in approval and together they silently followed the two men who had spoken earlier – hoping that the preparations they had spoken about earlier, would lead them to their friends.

* * *

Sanji woke with a start to find himself cold and uncomfortable. He tried to sit up, only to find he didn't have the strength, he gave up with a slight groan and lay back down on the cold floor – his head spinning.

'Are you ok?' came a soft, familiar voice from the darkness. Why was it so dark? Sanji opened his eyes again – surprised because he didn't remember closing them. He felt someone touch his face gently.

'Chopper?' he queried, his voice shaking almost beyond recognition. He frowned, what was happening?

'Mmm...' came the soft reply. 'Zoro and Usopp are here too.'

'Where...?' he asked, trying to sit up and failing for the second time. 'What...?'

'Just sit still for a minute.' Zoro's voice cut through some of the fog in Sanji's head, the blonde realising vaguely that the swordsman actually sounded concerned.

'Eh?' The cook questioned aloud at his own observation, still incredibly disorientated.

'Here.' Usopp's voice said softly, handing a wet cloth out to Chopper who put it on Sanji's brow.

'Wha...where did you get... is that?' Sanji found he was still having difficulty forming words. He closed his eyes for a long moment, trying to pull his brain back together before opening them slowly. He was surprised to see the other three huddled around him, and was concerned to see that even Zoro was looking relieved that he had woken.

The blonde man turned his head slowly – taking in his situation while he gave his brain a chance to catch up with what was happening. There were in a cell that was shaped like a cube. Five of the six sides had been roughly cut into the wall, which was obviously made of some kind of natural rock. He turned his head the other way when he heard a dripping sound, there was a small rivulet of water running down one of the walls, a piece of ripped cloth was bunched against it, trying to absorb as much water as possible. Apparently this was where Usopp had gotten the compress earlier.

'Eh?' The cook tried again, bewildered to suddenly find himself in such a place.

'It's alright.' Chopper told the confused man gently. 'The ship was attacked after Luffy and Nami left, they threw a strange powder at you and Zoro when you fought back – it knocked the pair of you out pretty quickly... I'm not sure of its composition though.' The reindeer paused before adding. 'You had a bad reaction to it.'

Sanji blinked up at their doctor in confusion, he didn't remember that.

'When?' he managed to blurt out.

Usopp sighed. 'We aren't entirely sure. I was knocked out when some guy hit me in the head, Chopper was restrained with some powerful type of kairouseki.'

'I've been awake for about 5 hours or so.' Chopper informed him – 'I don't think we've been here much longer than that.'

'What ... bad reaction?' Sanji mumbled, closing his eyes for a moment as another wave of dizziness returned.

'You stopped breathing...' Zoro mumbled, not looking at the cook. 'Three times... once your heart stopped too.'

Sanji just blinked – well, that would certainly explain why he felt so crappy, but it didn't really explain what had happened to them.

'I'm ok then' He half asked, half stated.

Chopper nodded, looking relieved that Sanji seemed more easily able to talk.

'Tell me again what the hell happened.' He demanded a bit groggily.

Chopper sighed and began.

* * *

_Nami and Luffy had only just left to go searching for provisions when the attack began. _

_It had started unexpectedly, and had taken them completely by surprise. The first one to be taken had been Usopp who had been on watch. The blow had come from behind, swift and without warning, leaving the long-nosed, sharp-shooter to dissolve into darkness, crumpling to the ground without making a sound. _

_His attacker, a man about as tall as Zoro but with Luffy_'_s build, picked him up easily and swiftly carried him down the rigging from the crow_'_s nest to the deck, where the others had been finishing securing the Merry. _

_He dropped the unconscious marksman to the deck with a slight thump and stood, waiting for the others to turn around. _

'_Oi, Usopp, could you tie this to ... what the hell?_' _Sanji exclaimed, taking in the stranger on their deck and the unconscious marksman at his feet. The man wore all black, including a black mask covering his face. _'_Who the HELL are you??_'

'_Usopp!_' _Chopper wailed, converting to his largest form with a growl. _

_Zoro unsheathed his swords. _'_Who are you?_' _he demanded, echoing Sanji. He leapt forwards with a cry before the man could speak. _

_The response from the man was faster than lightning. He side stepped the katana with an easy grace, and reached into a pouch attached to his belt. He span quickly and ducked, throwing the handful of strange dust right into Zoro_'_s face. _

_Zoro blinked and swayed, dropping his swords to the deck with a clang before falling himself. _

'_Zoro!_' _Chopper called _– _there was no response from the moss-haired man. _

'_What do you want from us you crap-bastard?_' _Sanji demanded, shoving his hands in his pockets, preparing for his own assault on the intruder. _

_The cook found himself surprised when the man actually answered. _

'_Unforgivable..._' _he said in a low, angry hiss. The unprovoked venom in his voice actually startling the chef. _

'_What?_'

'_Your crew, the entire crew is unforgivable. To have THAT._' _He pointed at Chopper with a dust covered, black gloved finger. _'_Sailing with you... it_'_s ... disgusting!_'

_Sanji was bewildered by the man_'_s rage, but Chopper looked at the man steadily. _

'_The devil-fruit._' _He said out of the corner of his mouth. _

_Sanji_'_s eyes widened momentarily before narrowing into a glare. _

'_The devil-fruit??_' _He asked incredulously. _'_That_'_s what this is about?_'

'_Yes._' _The man stated flatly. _'_Anyone who sails with such disgusting creatures are immediately disposed of by our god. Such things are not natural._' _The last word he spat in Choppers direction, who flinched minutely. _

'_And now..._' _the man continued. _'_You all die._' _Sanji leapt to the side, narrowly avoiding the strange dust that had so easily taken down Zoro. He breathed in a tiny portion, when the wind changed direction and felt his head begin to spin, he stumbled slightly and shook his head. _

'_Sanji?_' _Chopper asked. _

_The cook waved the doctor off without answer and took two quick steps forwards, launching himself at the attacker, he was vaguely concerned when he realised his legs felt like rubber. He gave a yell of surprise when the man blocked his weakened kick with one arm, stepping back to diffuse the blow _– _before bringing his other arm up to block Sanji_'_s leg. He twisted to maintain the momentum, launching the blonde into the wall with enough strength to cause him to momentarily black out. _

'_...ji! SANJI!_' _When he opened his eyes again _– _Chopper was pinned to the ground in a net of kairouseki yelling desperately for him to wake up, his own voice growing increasingly sluggish with each word. _

_Sanji groaned and attempted to sit, only to find the attacked squatting next to him. The cook gasped just as the man released the handful of dust above his face _– _the reaction causing him to suck the powder even deeper into his lungs. He collapsed without a sound, his last thought hearing Chopper call his name. _

* * *

Nami and Luffy had been following the two men for about three hours – moving steadily closer to the volcano in the centre of the island. By now it was well past lunch-time, and although she kept hearing Luffy's stomach growl, he didn't mention food or being hungry. Instead, he kept his gaze on the two men in front, only occasionally blinking, it was almost as if he were afraid the men would suddenly disappear into thin air.

Nami sighed wearily and shrugged her shoulders to try and dispel some of the tension that had gathered there during the long walk. The mountainous path had not been easy, it had clearly been carved into the rocky countryside by the villagers more for the sake of necessity rather than comfort.

There were still huge, jagged rocks littering the path, most of which had a slippery coating of lichen. When she had left the ship with Luffy that morning, she had never thought she'd be walking through the jungle and had worn shoes and clothes more suitable for strolling through the wide and flat streets of a town. This mean that on more than one occasion during their long trek, she had gotten her sandal either caught between two rocks or slipped on the slippery moss. Three times Luffy had had to catch her before she fell.

'Are you ok?' he breathed after catching her for the third time, shooting her a concerned look.

She nodded before breathing back. 'I'm fine.'

As soon as she finished that statement – the two men they were following came to a sudden stop. Luffy gasped in surprise and pulled her behind a tree, again putting one hand over her mouth to stifle her startled gasp. He then released her mouth, and leaned around the tree to get a look at the two men, not realising how close he was leaning until his arm touched hers.

He immediately pulled back with a startled blush, but not before the damage had been done... his black hair had tickled her nose.

_Oh, no!_ She thought, feeling her nose tickle – she wrenched away from her captain and covered her nose and mouth with both hands.

'Aaaaargh...' Luffy said softly as he realised what was happening. Grey eyes darted around the tree once more to check the position of the two men who were still standing by the side of the road. Their hands were now clasped in front of them as though they were praying, it looked like they would be awhile.

'No! They're too close... they'll hear!' he whispered urgently, waving his hands in front of her face as though that would stop the oncoming sneeze.

She scrunched her face up even tighter and held her breath, but it was no use. A few seconds later, she gasped in a breath of air at the same time the sneeze finally came out, the combined sounds and the added acoustics of a forest full of large trees amplified the sound, making it much louder than it would have ordinarily have been. It bounced off the trees and into the distance.

Nami and Luffy froze staring at each other at the volume of noise that had been generated. Despite the situation Luffy couldn't help but break into a wide grin and chuckle softly.

'That was the best sneeze I've ever heard...' he mumbled, looking proud.

Nami looked abashed 'Do you think they heard?' she whispered. Luffy chuckled at her.

'Who's there, show yourself!' The order came from further along the path.

'I think the people on Mars heard that one...' he snickered.

Nami blushed. 'I tried to stop it...' Luffy laughed and placed his straw hat on her head.

'Don't be sorry, I was a bit sick of following such boring guys anyway.' He winked mischievously and stepped out from behind the tree. She gripped at his hat and watched him go in confusion, such a strange person. She smiled to herself and hugged the hat tighter.

'Who are you?' One of the men shouted, he was the shorter of the two, now he had removed his hood they could see his features more clearly. He had dark brown hair and a matted beard. He also had a rather portly stomach but his legs were very thin. Now that he was faced against a stranger, he looked unsure and a bit frightened.

'Hello.' Luffy said pleasantly, thrusting his hands into his pockets and leaning casually against the tree next to the one Nami was hiding behind.

The short man hesitated at Luffy's disarming demeanour and the taller of the two stepped forwards, he was definitely the brains of the two. He was younger than his companion, although not by much, he wore a pair of glasses that were just a little too big for his face and his build was much more wiry than his companion. He had no beard and his dark hair was already starting to thin.

'I've never seen you around here before...' the man began cautiously, moving closer, although still keeping a careful arms length away from the boy.

'I've never been here before.' Luffy agreed cheerfully.

The man nodded slowly, obviously trying to get a handle on the strange boy before him, the young man who was radiating incredible power even though he was obviously trying to suppress it.

The other stepped forwards aggressively – but he was stopped by his companion who put an arm out and caught him hard in the chest.

'What business exactly do you have on this island?' The taller of the two asked curiously, trying to keep the tone of his voice light and free from suspicion and failing miserably. 'This area of the island is restricted.'

Luffy sighed as he realised that the men were already too suspicious for him to talk their way out of this one.

'Oh, nothing...' he began casually- pulling his right hand out of his pocket in the pretext of looking at his nails. He looked suddenly up at the two men, his silver eyes smouldering.

'Just a little search and rescue mission.' He called forwards a small ball of fire and balanced it on the palm of his hand for a moment.

Both men gasped and flinched violently, stumbling backwards.

'Devil fruit!' squeaked the shorter of the two.

'Blasphemy!' The taller spat, pulling a hidden sword from down the back of his robes.

'Isn't it uncomfortable keeping that there?' Luffy wondered aloud, watching the taller man fall into his battle stance.

Luffy sighed again, the man obviously knew how to use the sword... in a training hall, he could see from the uncertainty in his eyes, behind the bravado that the man had never had to apply his skills in a real fight before.

'Not devil-fruit.' Luffy corrected amicably dissipating the ball with a flick of his wrist and puling his cheek with his right hand. 'This is devil-fruit.' He shot a quick fireball with his left hand, catching the man's sword and heating it until it was too hot to touch. He dropped it with a yell. '_This_ is something a bit different.'

The taller man wiped his hands on the front of his robes as though he had been contaminated or forced to touch something nasty.

'Urgh!' he exclaimed. '...disgusting!'

Luffy blinked at the strange response. 'You think?' His right hand flashed out the cover few metres between the tall man and himself, the speed behind the stretching giving it even more destructive force. '...oh well.' He muttered, punching the man hard in the stomach and into a tree. The man's head met the bark with a loud crack and he slid to the base of the trunk and lay without moving.

The smaller man went pale with the righteous anger of a man who thinks he has witnessed something unsavoury. 'How _dare_ you touch him with your unclean hands? You... all your kind are an abomination on our one true god. You are _monsters _we have sworn to eliminate from this Earth.' He hissed, his brown eyes flashing in absolute fury. 'and eliminate you we will – you, and all who associate with you!'

'Mmmmhmmm...' Luffy mumbled without interest, clearly not intimidated by the other man's obvious hatred.

He took a step forwards, meaning to punch the man in the side of the head when the smaller man suddenly stiffened and fell forwards with his eyes rolling back into his head, revealing a very angry Nami, he staff still outstretched and a lump quickly growing on the top of the man's head.

'Eh?' Luffy asked in surprise. 'Nami?'

'How can you let him talk about you like that?' she demanded.

Luffy shrugged and grinned. 'People will always fear what they don't understand.' He turned and pushed the smaller man off the path so Nami wouldn't have to step over him on her way past. She watched him wordlessly, pondering another of the little insights her Captain had just unwittingly shared with her.

_Is it always like this for Luffy and Chopper? _She wondered. _Moving though a world where people hated them just for being different? Could that be part of the reason why Luffy tried to come across as so harmless?_

'We should find Chopper and the others quickly.' She muttered, as they began moving much more quickly down the rocky path.

Luffy nodded, 'Yeah, all that talk made me a little edgy too.'

Nami looked towards the volcano looming over them. 'It feels like something big is about to happen.' She paused when they came to the section of path where the two men had stopped to pray. Hidden just off the trail was a strange plaque made out of rock.

'Eh?' she muttered moving off the trail for a closer look.

'What is it?' Luffy asked coming up behind her.

Nami blanched suddenly, her hands flying up to cover her mouth in horror as she continued to read.

'Nami?' Luffy asked again, more urgently. She slowly turned to face her Captain.

'It's a legend about the volcano – apparently the god of this land, which lives inside the volcano itself requires live sacrifices to be thrown into the lava. If it doesn't get a lot of them, regularly – it says that the god will reap havoc on the land and all who inhabit it. To purify the island of its sins it requires a special type of sacrifice. It asks for an offering of ...evil... to satiate it for another year.' She paused. 'Luffy, they sacrifice devil-fruit users and their nakama to the volcano and they do it at sunset.'

The pair looked towards the horizon and saw that it was already mid-afternoon.

* * *

A/N – Well after a really, really long break the chappie is finally completed, I hope you enjoyed it!! Review and let me know what you thought.


	8. The Attack

Hey everyone

I meant to bring this up last time, but forgot. I've had a couple of reviews asking how Ace, Dragon and Garp fit into this story. Well they kind of don't... it's AU so this is what would happen if Luffy was not originally from Fucsia but was still saved from a different island by Shanks. Ace, Garp and Dragon aren't going to be making an appearance in my story at all. (this time at least ^_^)

So yeah, not that I don't love them all, but this story isn't REALLY about Luffy and his family, it's about Luffy's powers and the discrimination that follows people who are different... more or less. Haha!

So anyway, I hope you can enjoy the story even though those dudes aren't in it.

**Forgotten powers **

**Chapter 8**

* * *

They had been running full speed towards the volcano for about 20 minutes now, Luffy carrying Nami on his back to make faster time.

They hoped desperately that they were going the right way by just continuing to follow the path the men had been taking. Using the little bits of volcano they could occasionally see through the thick trees as a reference.

Luffy hesitated as the path before the suddenly split into two. He looked up at the navigator on his back questioningly.

'Which way?' he asked her, slightly out of breath.

'Left!' she answered confidently.

The raven-haired man nodded in understanding and took off along the left path, spraying pebbles as his feet struggled to find traction. He was marvelling again at his navigator's uncanny abilities. _She's like a Southbird. _Luffy thought with a grin. _Always knowing which way North is and able to navigate her way anywhere. _

'Stop.' Nami hissed quietly, tapping her captain gently on the head. 'I think we're at the base of the volcano.'

Luffy slowed his run to a stop and gently lowered Nami back on the ground.

The captain looked up to see that she was right.

'Alright!' he said in a soft voice – grey eyes glittering again in excitement at the prospect of a new adventure.

Nami found herself grinning along despite herself. _The more things change, the more they stay the same. _She thought of her newly changed captain. No matter how much he changed, he'd always be Luffy.

'Where are the others?' Luffy looked around the clearly deserted area as though waiting for a sign-post to pop out of the ground.

Nami pursed her lips for a moment. 'The plaque with the legend on it said something like 'underneath the sleeping heart, purification begins.' So I'd suggest they're somewhere under the ground.' Luffy nodded, and flicked her an admiring glance for remembering the plaque verbatim. Mussing aloud he said. 'So it would make sense for there to be a hidden entrance somewhere?' He stopped himself as the thought sank in then he laughed, low and excited. 'A secret entrance? Wow! I hope so.'

Nami grinned and dropped to the ground as each of them began searching in earnest for the entrance to their friends.

* * *

They had lost track of time in their dark cell and boredom was now well and truly kicking in for the four boys of the Mugiwara's.

Sanji was by now able to sit up leaning on one of the walls behind him, but he still, periodically experienced dizzy spells. He was quite good at hiding them, the only indicators were him loosening his tie and holding a hand to his forehead.

But, the others were far from unobservant, and with nothing else to look at or fill their time, the other three were able to see each and every one.

Chopper nodded wearily at the other two as they shot him a concerned look. Although it was concerning that Sanji was still struggling with the effects of the powder hours after he had woken up. It was good to see that the dizzy spells were coming further and further apart.

One particularly bad spell, however, had seemed to go on and on and on. Although the cook made no noise – the others could simply watch in concern as the blonde sat with one hand firmly pressed over his eyes and the minutes ticked by.

Finally Sanji gave a light groan and leant his head back on the rough stone of the wall behind him.

Chopper held out another soaked cloth and Sanji took it wordlessly, placing it over his eyes.

'Thanks...' he mumbled after a few seconds.

'You ok?' Usopp asked

'Mmmmhmmm...' the cook answered keeping the cloth over his eyes, the fact that he had not even used words clearly proving he wasn't.

'I'm sorry, Sanji.' Chopper began in a low voice, stepping forwards. 'If we were on the Merry I'd be able to make you feel better in no time, but here...' the little doctor trailed off.

'Sn't your fault.' Sanji mumbled, 'I'll be fine in a second anyway, nothing to worry about. That one was just a bit longer than I thought.' He reached out a hand towards the direction he thought Chopper would be, and felt a tiny cloven hoof take his. He smiled gently...

'I feel heaps better already, thanks Doc.' Usopp and Zoro smirked as the little Doctor began dancing.

'Just calling me Doctor isn't going to make me feel better, you bastard!' Sanji's grin stretched and he sat up, apparently finally feeling well enough to uncover his eyes.

Silence reigned again...

'Does anyone know what we're actually doing here?' Usopp asked from the corner he'd curled up in.

Zoro looked around yet again and sighed. 'It's been hours and we haven't seen anyone. No threats or anything...' he trailed off.

Sanji shrugged, feeling infinitely better than he had when he'd first woken up, but still too crappy to really care. 'Luffy and Nami-swan are still out there, they'll do something.'

The others nodded silently.

'I'm boooored.' Chopper whined suddenly into the silence.

'Oh!' Usopp exclaimed, clearly remembering something. He stood up and reached into his pants pocket. '...yes!!' triumphantly he pulled out a deck of playing cards.

'Anyone up for a game?' He asked with a smirk.

'Usopp-sama!!!' Chopper yelled, clamping onto the marksman's leg.

Zoro and Sanji shared amused glances. Under usual circumstances they would be trying to escape, but with Sanji still periodically disorientated and Zoro missing his swords. They didn't like the chances of them actually making it out. Chopper had told them that when he'd first woken up he'd tried to break out of the cage with his brute strength, only to find out that the bars were made of the same super-strength kairouseki that they had used to pin him with the net.

So, until they were either rescued by Luffy and Nami, or let out by their captors, they were well and truly prisoners. Sanji quirked an eyebrow at Zoro who shrugged.

'Why not?' he muttered, while Sanji simply held out a hand for his cards.

* * *

A small clicking noise to his left had Luffy gasping in surprise. They had been searching for the entrance to the volcano for about half an hour and were beginning to get worried. Sunset was fast approaching and they still didn't know where their crew was.

Luffy stood upright s the clicking gained in intensity.

'Nami,' he called under his breath to the girl that was searching further down the path. She stood and turned to him, wiping her sweaty brown with the back of her hand.

The clicking intensified again and Luffy dove, pushing her again behind a tree. The two were just in time and watched in amazement as a large section of earth and grass lifted as it was pushed from underneath. A gigantic metal trap door was underneath, hidden perfectly into the mountainside.

When it had lifted high enough, three men and a woman emerged from the darkeness, each was dressed in the same long, dark, obscuring cloaks they had seen the men wear in the town.

'Whooo...' Luffy whispered, clearly impressed.

Nami rolled her eyes.

They leaned slightly closer as the group began talking, their voices carrying well as they moved down the path. The trees adding extra space for reverberation.

'I can't stand it!' the woman began, her tone clearly disapproving. 'It's just knowing _it's _in there.'

'It's disgusting,' one of the men agreed, his form visibly shuddering even through the long dark robe that disguised him.

'It's strange,' Another man, with a gravelly voice put in. 'No matter how many times our village goes through this – it doesn't get any easier to be in their presence.'

The last man spoke up – his voice strangely high for his height and bulk. 'It is our god's wish that we destroy these diabolical creatures. Our physical discomfort in dealing with these unholy abominations is nothing if we can please our god and keep his rage at bay.'

The woman sighed and nodded, with the other men. 'Even though they're that far underneath the volcano in which our god sleeps. I can feel that horrible creature, I know it's sitting there, a walking parody of everything our lord has taught us to believe in.'

'You must not forget,' said the man with the strangely high pitched voice. 'Those creatures are a reminder to us all how physical weaknesses such as gluttony in eating those abominations of a fruit and a thirst for power to sacrifice the soul for a fleeting moment of ill-received strength in the pool of eternity. These are warnings to us, that the very ocean turns against these creatures, pulls them down mercilessly trying to drown them before their evil can corrupt the entire world is proof of their need to be exterminated.' He paused, his voice fading away as the group finally faded from view.

'The only option for creatures who eat that unholy fruit is baptism by fire.'

Luffy and Nami waited for a few moments until they could no longer hear the voices. The huge section of mountainside was still open. Luffy grinned 'They forgot to close the door.' At these words the clicking of gears began, fast and irregular.

The door suddenly began closing, much more quickly than it had opened.

'No!' Luffy yelled, diving out from behind the tree just as the door close with a loud metallic 'clang!'

'How can this town be so emotionally backwards?' Nami exclaimed in a low voice. Aware of how sound travelled in this forest. 'Their technology is obviously advanced – I can't even see that door even though I know it's there. But to hear them talk – all those ridiculous prejudices.'

Luffy chuckled and continued searching around the ground for a switch or a lever to reopen the door. 'It's just the way they are,' he said distractedly, pulling a twig loose in his search. He looked at it for a moment before throwing it carelessly over his shoulder.

'That kind of fear, the one where a whole group of people hates or fears another whole group of people is usually passed down from generation to generation. It's not entirely their own fault, it's all they know...'

Nami watched in shock as Luffy stood, dusting off his hands. It almost sounded like he was speaking from experience. He turned to face her, a strange grin on his face and she suddenly realised, he wasn't talking about devil-fruit anymore, he was talking about the other type of power he had... and he _was_ speaking from experience.

'Just because it's been passed down, doesn't mean they aren't wrong though.' He continued in a harder tone. 'and I will not forgive them for speaking about Chopper that way.'

_And I won't forgive them for speaking about _you _like that._ She thought, stepping forwards. 'I can't either, but how do we get in if we can't open the door?'

Luffy smiled and pushed his hat back with one finger. 'I think I have a way to open it, now that we know where it is. It's a little unusual though, so don't be scared.'

She looked at him in confusion, but he simply winked and held a hand out, his palm pointed down over the spot the door was under. Nami's eyes widened in amazement when she looked at his face. His silver eyes, which always sparkled with internal power, were now positively glittering, his messy black hair began blowing as though in a stiff wind that was only affecting him.

Luffy took a deep breath and tensed, the glittering in his eyes now glowing.

'HA!' he yelled, the sound coming from deep in his chest. A short jet of light shot down from his extended palm into the dirt covering the steel of the mechanical door, a dent about the size of his head appeared. Luffy grinned and closed his eyes for a moment, drawing even deeper on the power.

'_HA_!' he said again, with a little more force. There was a creaking noise, as though the metal was under a great deal of pressure – it held for a long moment before suddenly imploding completely with a sickening crunch. The solid metal of the enormous door and all the gears were now compacted into a rough ball of twisted metal about the size of Luffy himself.

He lifted his palm up to shoulder height and Nami watched astonished as the twisted wreck that was the door levitated into the air. Luffy gave a brief flick of his wrist and the heavy mangled dor flew rapidly to the side, crashing into the volcano with enough force to dent the rock underneath.

He let out a soft breath and opened his eyes, his hair stopped moving and he lowered his palm. The black-haired man looked to Nami and stopped when he saw the expression of shock on her face. He hesitated for a moment before speaking to her.

'Are you ok?' He asked, tilting his head to one side to observe her.

She nodded dumbstruck, and blurted her own question before she'd even had a chance to think about it.

'What does it feel like?' she gestured to the wreck of metal a few meters away. 'To use that power?'

He gave a funny shaky sigh and pushed his straw-hat down over his eyes for a moment, hiding his expression from her.

'It can be terrifying,' he admitted before pausing to hesitate once again as if he was not entirely sure whether he should add the next part. 'But most of the time... it feels good.' He breathed. '_really_ good...' the raven-haired man took a deep breath and looked up at her, his expression peaceful.

'But we should find the others.' He said rather pointedly, Nami nodded and realised she was staring, taking in his wind-swept hair and rather flushed cheeks, she saw his eyes were glittering again – and once more she was almost overwhelmed by the changes her captain had gone through.

She grinned at him suddenly, taking even herself by surprise at how quickly she was able to bounce back after seeing her captain turn a huge metal door into scrap with what seemed to be the power of his mind.

'After you?' she offered, gesturing him down into the pitch black hole, yawning beneath their feet.

Luffy grinned and bowed slightly laughing to himself as he entered the hole, Nami following close behind into the darkness.

'Those people said Chopper and the others were underneath their god.' She said softly, one hand gripping onto Luffy's red vest, her only point of contact in the dark. 'That probably means we should go down as far as we can.'

She felt Luffy nod in the darkness rather than saw it. 'You're right – maybe there are cells or something?'

They turned a corner and walked along the dark and silent hallway.

'Luffy?' Nami asked uncertainly.

'Yeah...' he muttered. 'Something's weird, this rock is throwing me off, I can't feel anyone besides you, but something's telling me...' he broke off suddenly as a shuffling noise ahead stopped them dead in their tracks, before they could say anything a light as bright as the sun hit them suddenly, spot lighting them but also flash blinding them at the same time.

'Stop right there' a voice, the same strangely high-pitched voice they had heard earlier commanded them.

'What the?' Luffy gasped, both his and Nami's hands flying up by instinct to shield their eyes from the bright light.

'Did you really think we didn't already know you were there?' the voice continued from the darkness beyond the light. 'Did you really think we hadn't noticed we were missing the infamous straw-hat Captain with the devil fruit powers?'

'Well... kind of, yeah.' Luffy answered truthfully with a shrug.

'Do you see?' the voice increased in volume as though addressing more people. 'The abominations who eat the devil-fruit don't expect regular humans to be capable of intelligent thought. He did not expect us to be able to pre-determine his moves and then trap him.'

'Hey, that's not true!' Luffy exclaimed. 'Most of my crew are regular humans, and every one of them is smarter than me!'

Nami slapped her forehead at his candid admission and then grinned slightly as the realisation hit her. _I don't know that's really true anymore._

'Silence!!' the man all but screamed. 'We don't need to hear your manipulations any longer. Surround them!'

Luffy had a sudden idea and hissed to his navigator as they were surrounded.

'Nami, don't fight them!'

'What? Why?' she asked, completely surprised.

'Let yourself be captured! It's almost sunset, they'll have to put us with the rest of the crew.' He muttered from the corner of his mouth.

Nami watched in surprise as he dropped his head, looking thoroughly and completely defeated, an image she never thought she'd see. The people surrounding them warily moved closer.

'Trust me...' Luffy whispered, for her ears only.

Against every impulse in her body, Nami slowly relaxed, lowering her own head in defeat. She gasped when she was grabbed from behind, her hands bound with coarse rope.

Luffy was cuffed with kairouseki, and she watched concerned as he slumped with a groan. Apparently the cuffs were potent.

_I hope you know what you're doing, Luffy. _She thought as the blinding lights were turned off and she and her captain were led away, stumbling in the pitch darkness.

* * *

AN – Another one done!! Review and let me know what you think.


	9. Retaliation

Hey guys, only two reviews for the last chapter? If you notice something I could be doing better, let me know ok? The big boss appears in this chapter and the rating may need to raise next chapter.

Thanks! And I don't own One Piece.

**Forgotten Powers**

**Chapter 9**

* * *

Chopper looked up suddenly from their 15th game of poker. 'Someone's coming.' He muttered, getting the attention from the others.

'How many?' Zoro asked curiously.

Chopper put down his cards and sniffed the air tentatively, he froze.

'...Luffy and Nami.' He breathed suddenly. 'And about 8 others.'

'What?!' Usopp squeaked, dropping his own cards.

'They actually caught Luffy?' Sanji asked, sounding doubtful.

'Impossible.' Zoro said firmly.

They fell silent as the group of people coming down the hall came into view, materialising out of the shadows.

Nami came first, looking rather pale and being supported by two men. She yelled as they opened the cell door and pushed her in, straight into Usopp who caught her around the waist before she could fall face-first into the rough stone of the floor.

'Urgh, thanks!' she mumbled, rubbing at her chafed wrists.

Next cam Luffy, being supported by four and flanked by two others, his head hanging low.

The crew watched in horror as their captain was uncuffed and pushed into the cage, crashing to the stone floor with a loud 'Ooof!', apparently not having the strength to throw his arms out.

'Luffy!' Chopper yelled, running forwards as the guards bolted the kairouseki door and moved away, back down the hall.

Sanji and Zoro started forwards too, but stopped when Luffy rolled onto his back and laughed weakly.

'It worked! Hey guys!' he laughed again and pushed himself into a sitting position. 'That was some super-strong kairouseki.' He observed with a brief twitch.

'What are you talking about? What worked?' Sanji asked, his voice shaking very briefly, he coughed to try and hide it but Luffy frowned, taking in the chef's unusually slumped posture.

'You ok?' he asked abruptly.

Sanji's visible eye widened at the sudden scrutiny before he relaxed. 'Yeah, just some crappy allergies.' He hedged.

'I didn't know you had allergies.' Luffy said doubtfully.

'Funny, neither did I.' Sanji muttered, unnerved when Luffy continued to stare.

'What worked?' Zoro asked, unexpectedly coming to Sanji's rescue.

Luffy stared at Sanji for another long moment before apparently deciding his chef was in no immediate danger. He let a grin light his face as he turned to the rest of the crew.

'Nami and I thought we'd come find you guys, so we got captured so we could find you before sunset.'

Nami turned her face away from the others as it began to burn red in embarrassment... he didn't need to explain it like _that. _

'You let yourself get captured on purpose?' Usopp asked incredulously.

'Why?' asked Chopper.

'They were going to execute you guys at sunset for having devil-fruit users on our ship.' Nami told them. 'We didn't know where you were, so the best option seemed to be getting captured and finding you that way.'

'Well, we guessed the execution part.' Usopp began. 'But now you guys have been captured too!'

'And this is a kairouseki cage!' Chopper added.

'It's ok.' Luffy told them with a strange confidence. 'I'm going to take care of that now.'

'You're going to what?' Zoro asked, watching Luffy make his way over to the cage door. Luffy grinned at his swordsman and turned his full attention to the door, placing one hand gently on the bars. A couple of seconds later he sagged and dropped it, shaking his head.

'Luffy?' Zoro asked warily.

'Just checking something.' Was the distracted reply. 'This stuff is strong too.'

He held his hand palm upwards and concentrated for a moment, his face becoming peaceful as he concentrated, his eyes began to glow and he took a deep breath – stepped forwards and firmly pressed his hand to the door.

'Luffy?' Chopper began, but stopped when he saw the raven-haired man's eyes were now closed, his hair moving gently in a non-existent breeze.

'Woah...' Usopp muttered.

A long moment passed and Luffy stumbled – falling to his knees, but keeping the hand pressed firmly to the bars.

'Is this ok?' Sanji whispered to Chopper. The reindeer watching with wide eyes gave a low cry as Luffy dropped his spare hand to the floor as well, his head drooping, but his hand still firm to the bars.

'Someone should stop him...' Chopper finally advised.

Zoro stood and moved forwards to intervene when the bars suddenly lit up with a vibrant green light that seemed to come from inside them.

With what seemed like a great deal of effort, Luffy stood again and placed his other hand on the bars with the first.

'Come on...' he said softly, as though coaxing them.

The light surrounding them brightened momentarily and the bars glowed as if red-hot. All of a sudden a steady dripping noise began to echo throughout the cell.

'The bars!' Sanji whispered in awe. 'They're _melting_!'

The dripping intensified and all of a sudden the heat Luffy was providing became too much and the dripping became splashing, a few seconds later the entire door shuddered, falling to the floor outside the cage still in bar form before it collapsed all at once into liquid, leaving the whole wall open for escape. The light faded as abruptly as it had started and Luffy pulled his hands back with a sigh.

He stumbled briefly and fell silently, Zoro, the closest caught him around the chest as his eyes slid closed, apparently exhausted.

'Luffy?' the swordsman asked shaking his friend.

'Just give him a second, Zoro.' Chopper asked. 'It wouldn't be easy to touch kairouseki for that long.'

'Whoa!' Usopp exclaimed again – looking at their resting captain in awe. 'He just _melted_ kairouseki.'

Silence reigned for a couple more seconds before Luffy finally gathered enough strength to open his eyes.

'Alright?' Zoro asked with a grin as he helped him to stand. Luffy nodded, a soft smile on his face and his expression distracted.

'I haven't had to use that much for a while. I forgot how it felt, that's all.' He held onto Zoro's arm for a few more seconds, until he was feeling steady enough to stand under his own steam.

'We ready?' he asked his crew. 'It will be sunset soon, and I don't know about you guys, but I'd rather not become volcano food.'

The others nodded and stood. Chopper looking pleased when Sanji managed to stand with his usual grace.

The nakama carefully edged their way out of the natural cage and into the dark hallway.

'Chopper,' Luffy began softly. 'Keep your nose out for anything unusual. I'd rather not have a repeat of earlier, now we've found everyone.' The reindeer nodded and obediently stuck his blue nose up, sniffing for danger.

'Does anyone know what time it is?' Usopp asked from the back of the group, sounding a bit tired as they finished climbing up yet another enormous staircase.

Chopper stiffened suddenly and tugged warningly on Luffy's pants.

'Oh, I'd say it's about sunset.' A sickeningly familiar high voice echoed through the blackness.

'Ah...' Luffy groaned.

'Not so clever now, are you straw-hat?' The high voiced man gloated. 'For all your disgusting devil-powers.'

Luffy rolled his eyes as his crew stiffened at the man's attitude. 'I _told_ you, I'm not smarter than anyone. What's your problem?' His eyes glowed very briefly as his rage at the man began to build. He clenched his hands at his sides.

'Oh, look!' the man mocked in his grating voice. 'It thinks it can intimidate us. They never seem to understand that they will never be on the same level as humans.' He shrugged his shoulders in a 'what-can-you-do' pose, looking for all the world, like he was trying to train a particularly thick animal.

Luffy pulled his hat down over his eyes at the gloating, his crew steadily growing angrier, but waiting for his lead.

'Look,' Luffy tried again. 'I don't want to hurt any of you, but we _will_ be leaving this island one way or another.' His eyes flashed again, even brighter this time and his whole crew noticed.

'Hurt us?' The man who obviously couldn't see danger when it was looking him in the eye, clapped his hands and the lights turned on. The crew suddenly realised they were in a much larger room than they'd originally thought – there were stands around the edges that were filled with people. It seemed the village Luffy and Nami had been walking through, looking for provisions was just a front for the village that was really kept underground. There was a large steaming pit in the centre of the floor, that was belching out steam.

'It's the volcano.' Chopper muttered, his blue nose twitching. 'I can smell the sulphur.'

'Do you really think you can hurt us? All of us regular, innocent people?' the man continued to gloat, spreading his hands theatrically.

'Go on then, prove to us that you're truly the devil we all know you are. We know the darkness that lies within you, within all of you, constantly coiled and waiting for an opportunity to destroy.' He paused to laugh cruelly and Luffy's hands clenched even tighter – the nails digging into his palms and drawing a thin trickle of blood.

'You call us evil...' Luffy began in a low voice. 'You tell us we have darkness inside us, but you people are the ones trying to destroy the lives of innocent people. Has one devil-fruit user that you have sacrificed here ever shown you to be evil?'

The man laughed again. 'the simple fact that they have eaten that abomination is proof enough that they deserve to die.'

'You call us evil when you kill for no reason? You don't understand the devil-fruit, but you kill the people who ate them JUST BECAUSE THEY'RE DIFFERENT?' Luffy screamed suddenly.

Silence filled the hall and Luffy panted for breath, shaking in anger.

'It's scared.' The man said disbelievingly, to the still silent audience, mistaking Luffy's shaking form for fear rather than anger.

'Shut UP!' The captain growled, the wind that accompanied his power began to blow. 'You have no idea, absolutely no idea what you are talking about. You call me evil, yet you kill indiscriminately. You could never understand how pure someone like Chopper is.'

Mumbles of outrage began to echo throughout the hall.

'What difference does it make if I understand it or not, it's not like it understands human words – I'm surprised you do.' The man sneered.

'Throw them in the volcano!' A voice yelled suddenly from the audience.

'Sacrifice them to satiate our god!' Yelled another.

'Baptism by fire!' Came a third.

The stands erupted suddenly into chaos as each person yelled for retribution. Luffy's shaking increased as he struggled to keep the power inside him.

'Oi...' Zoro mumbled, stepping forwards to place a concerned hand on his captain's shoulder. 'Calm down...'

'They're wrong about him..' Luffy ground out. 'They're so wrong about everything, how many _children_ who ate the fruit by accident do you think they...' he broke off with a choke, and his power kicked up another couple of notches. He turned to look at his swordsman, the rage coming off him in waves that were almost visible.

'It's this place, this entire town.' Luffy gestured. 'I can't let it exist, what it stands for.'

'Why do I get the impression he's not only talking about devil-fruit anymore?' Usopp asked nervously, making sure to keep his voice low enough that Luffy and Zoro couldn't hear him.

'Probably because he isn't.' Nami breathed, watching in fascination.

Zoro took a step back and the crowd stopped chanting when the high-voiced man began to speak again.

'You can't let it exist? Does it offend you?' He asked with a laugh. 'You say that like you have the right to an opinion, as if you have rights at all. No, you will not destroy this place, we humans have decided that it will stay, and you will obey your superiors.'

Zoro abruptly removed his hand from Luffy's shoulder, resisting the sudden almost overpowering urge to tear the place apart himself. Luffy was the one that needed to do this. 'You're right Luffy.' He mumbled, 'This place shouldn't be allowed.'

'There's no point at all in even talking to these bastards.' Sanji observed.

'How can they talk about Chopper and Luffy like that? Usopp asked, keeping an eye on his enraged captain.

'li...like they're objects?' Nami finished in bewilderment.

'Get them Luffy!' Chopper yelled, punching the air with a hoof.

Luffy glared at the man for one long moment, slowly bringing his hands together over his head like he was clapping.

'HA!!' He yelled, bringing his hands down quickly in a wide sweep until they were angled out towards his hips. A huge ball of ice formed during the movement, it filled almost half the gigantic space between them and the ceiling, if it were to thaw into water, Usopp had a sneaking suspicion that there would have been enough water for Merry to sail on.

He blinked as Luffy suddenly disappeared, the marksman looked around wildly only to detect his Captain now meters away, holding the ice above his head with one hand and standing directly over the mouth of the open pit of the underground volcano. The whole move had taken less than half a second.

'Wait!' The man screeched, running forwards as though he could stop him. 'I command you!!'

Luffy deliberately looked at the man and then threw the ball into the open pit, ice meeting the molten rock with an almost deafening hiss, hot steam filled the room – almost obscuring vision. Usopp could still see though, while the others covered their eyes to protect them from the hot steam, he couldn't take his own eyes off the enraged young-man. Luffy let out a quick breath, his hands still tensed as his hips – then he took a small step forwards and in one rapid gesture raised them from his hips, back up to his shoulders. The strange gesture somehow pulling a thick layer of the bedrock from the floor to cover the steaming hole like a large blanket.

He turned to the high-pitched man who was suddenly looking a lot less sure of himself. 'W-what... are... you?' he whispered, taking half a step back.

As the steam began to clear, Usopp was able to more properly take in the view of his Captain. Luffy's eyes were glowing so brightly they were producing their own light, his hair was again blowing in a non-existent breeze and he was very pale, his skin contrasting sharply with his black hair and red vest. Usopp suddenly couldn't blame the evil man for being intimidated. Luffy looked like something otherworldly. The marksman gulped, Luffy looked like an avenging angel.

'You...' Luffy said, his voice echoing throughout the silent hall. 'You're the worst of all of them.' He held out a hand and flicked it in the man's direction, pulling the solid bedrock around him like liquid silk and allowing it to harden. He tied off the ends of the power as he had been taught, leaving it to sustain itself until it was changed again. The high-pitched man was now trapped within a stone cocoon, so tight he could barely breathe – the stone was covering half his face, preventing the man from talking but keeping him conscious to watch.

Luffy spun and flung his arms out. 'Gomu, gomu no, Gatling!' He yelled, apparently feeling the need to cause some damage with the devil-fruit powers that the town found so detestable. His fists flew like the wind, meeting the solid rock of the ceiling, the walls, the floor – anywhere he could reach, determined to bring the place to the ground. Large chunks of rock began to fall, raining down and destroying everything.

The villagers screamed and yelled as they ran and dodged the falling rock – they were pushing each other to the ground in their haste to escape. Trampling on those that had fallen.

Luffy sighed at the sight and waved an arm smoothly. Everything froze, from the panicking villagers to the falling rock. The only things that were still able to move was the straw-hat crew and the man encased in stone whose eyes were spinning in terror.

There was complete silence for a long, long moment. Then Luffy finally allowed his arm to fall with a shaky sigh. He pushed his straw hat down over his eyes, to hide the expression from his crew, who were still staring their expressions bewildered.

'Let's go.' He said 'There isn't anything else for us on this island.' He moved away through the still frozen world to the staircase that led to the surface.

'What exactly _did_ we do here?' Zoro asked, looking around at the frozen people and gravity defying rocks.

'Nothing permanent.' Luffy stated, his voice surprisingly hard. 'I'll unfreeze them in a day or two... if I remember.'

The crew exchanged startled looks at the uncharacteristic tone and rather ruthless words.

'Are you ok?' Nami asked softly, placing a hand on his arm. She was surprised when he flinched at the contact and moved out of her reach.

'I'm fine, just remembering some stuff.' He told them in a tone that was clearly asking for them to not ask him anymore questions.

They all nodded as they exited the cave and watched Luffy turn his face to the last of the sunlight. They could respect that.

After a moment the tension faded from Luffy's shoulders and he relaxed, still watching the sunset. The sun he'd been forbidden from seeing so long ago and that these strange people who dwelt underground would never understand.

He smiled to himself, things were different now. He was no longer alone and his friends didn't shun him because of these powers. After another 15 minutes of silently watching the setting sun, his grin widened a fraction, and leaned back beginning to feel more like himself.

'How are you doing, Chopper?' The captain asked suddenly with a smile that was not quite as vibrant as his usual one, and one which didn't reach his eyes.

The reindeer jumped at being addressed so suddenly and smiled bravely. 'I'm fine, it's nothing I haven't been through before.' The reindeers blue nose twitched suddenly and Luffy's grin turned just a touch sad.

'And you, Sanji?'

The cook sighed and knew he'd been somehow found out – he hadn't had a dizzy spell for hours now and was able to answer truthfully.

'Perfectly fine, I'll get a check up when we get back to the Merry.'

The raven-haired man let out a sudden sigh of relief - they were all ok. He plunged his hands, which were still shaking slightly into his pockets. 'Let's go home.' He said rather abrubtly, moving past his friends and beginning to lead the way back to their ship. No one mentioned that the grin on his face was obviously a bit forced.

Their Captain was clearly working through his own past – he had helped each and every one of them deal with theirs and now they could only wait until he was ready to share his burden with them.

They walked in companionable silence for a moment before Luffy again broke the silence.

'I'm starving!' he announced, walking along with his hands still in his pockets.

'What a surprise.' Sanji muttered under his breath.

'Actually, so am i.' Nami said, sounding surprised.

'I'll cook you a feast of LOVE!' Sanji yelled, grabbing her hand in his and bowing low.

'Baka-brow.' Zoro growled.

'What?' Sanji demanded, carefully releasing Nami's hand to turn on the swordsman.

Luffy laughed as they continued to walk towards the Merry, just content to listen to his friends' bickering.

He sighed happily, now feeling much more normal and looked up at the emerging stars, hands still deep in his pockets. A pure joy that he'd rarely felt began to well up in him instead. He'd used his powers, the destructive side of his powers in front of his nakama and still his friends loved and trusted him. They didn't hate him or fear him for being so different. The feeling continued to grow inside the young man as Sanji gently kicked Usopp in the head, making the marksman stumble as his centre of balance unexpectedly moved.

They weren't even wary of him, they were treating him exactly as they always had. There were no tentative looks or overly polite behaviour. They were simply being themselves. The feeling suddenly overflowed and Luffy jumped into the air, leaping over Chopper and sprinting towards the Merry.

'Dinner!! Meeeat!!' He yelled, breaking into happy laughter.

The crew watched him go for a split second before looking at each other with identical wryfully amused grins at their Captain's ability to rebound from negative emotions. Sanji, Nami and Usopp all shrugged in unison and they began to run after him.

'Guys!' Luffy's voice called from further down the path. 'Come on.'

Their grins widened further and they increased their speed, running into the darkening forest and towards home – their laughter bouncing off the trees.

* * *

The next morning a different ship pulled up in the port of the now abandoned town, the strawhats had only just left, having sailed away straight after breakfast.

The ship dropped its gangplank and a man, obviously the captain strode down the wooden pathway and onto the dock surveying the empty streets.

He was a very tall man, about a head and shoulders taller than Zoro. He was also very muscular, however the full extent of his physique was hidden by baggy sailing clothes. He wore all black – the style was simple but obviously expensive. A result of necessity and an expectation of having the best of everything.

His dark hair was cropped close to his head but his beard was full and uncut, contrasting dramatically with his impeccable clothing.

He narrowed his eyes as he realised the town was indeed empty, he closed his eyes and breathed deeply, there was no mistake, he could still feel the residue of a large amount of the power he was searching for hanging in the air. He was so close he could almost taste it.

His hand tightened on the hilt of the gigantic long sword he had attached to his hip and growled under his breath.

This would _not_ do.

He turned to his crew and they flinched as one as he drew his sword, glaring at the crew member who had given him a lead on the island. In one smooth movement thrust it into the man's ribs and through his heart, the man watched with wide eyes as the gilded weapon entered his body.

He gave one choking gasp, looking at his Captain in disbelief and fell to his knees awkwardly. The man, who the crew knew as Captain Ridgecut took a step backwards as the man fell, ripping his blade out of the man's body. He turned as the body hit the ground with a dull thud and wiped his gleaming sword on the shirt of the horrified man standing to his left, the crimson of the blood mixing with the blue material of as it was absorbed sending it a deep purple colour.

Ridgecut looked at him, his eyes glowing with intense anger – he looked pointedly at the stain he had just put on the man's shirt and smirked evilly. 'You are now in charge of gathering information on the whereabouts of the mugiwara... do _not_ disappoint me.'

The relatively short and extremely unlucky young man that Ridgecut had just randomly chosen for this nearly impossible task was stocky and had light brown hair and blue eyes. He had a boyish face which made him look much younger than he really was, he also had no name of his own. He had yet to earn that right.

He nodded once, swallowing hard , his blue eyes wide and his face was covered in a fresh sheen of sweat.

Ridgecut grinned evilly. 'I expect you to know where he is by evening.' Ridgecut ordered over his shoulder, walking towards the ruined tavern to see if any bottles had survived.

The man paled further, he put one hand briefly to his forehead. How do you find someone that doesn't want to be found? The small island was completely surrounded by water, for all he knew the straw-hat pirates could have gone in any direction.

The nameless man sighed and raised his head to stare at the sun and the blue sky, wondering if it would be the last time he saw them. With a quick shake of his head, the man began running back through the small town towards the port to see if he would be able to see a sign of Merry or of her intended direction.

When he was almost to the port he felt an overwhelming despair and sank to his knees in the middle of the street. He was very young – only 22 years old and he had worked for Ridgecut since he was 12, his parents had sold him as a slave to help support his 5 brothers and sisters.

He was the second oldest and remembered that day dearly. He'd cried, wailed and begged his parents – but they had been adamant. He would go with Ridgecut, and he would have no say. They'd already spent some of the money Ridgecut had given them on farm equipment, one did not go back on a deal with the cruel pirate.

His parents had simply told him to behave and be obedient, they had told him that if he did was Ridgecut told him, he might survive.

At 22years he did not want to die, but he knew that nothing short of a miracle would be able to save him this time. He had seen enough of his crew mates killed by Ridgecut that he knew the man was completely ruthless. He took a deep breath and rose back up to his feet, staggering only slightly, he began moving slowly again towards the port. He had heard about the Captain of the Strawhats. Captain Luffy had a reputation for helping strangers in need. It was also said that he would do anything for his crew, he sighed and closed his eyes.

_If he helps other strangers I wish he'd come and help us. I don't want to die, and he's that can stop Ridgecut. _He thought desperately.

His eyes widened large and wide when he finally got to the port. Going Merry was still visible, in fact it was more than that -she was coming back. The man gasped, then turned and ran back to the tavern as fast as his feet would carry him.

* * *

AN – Hey guys, another chapter done - a little dramatic i know, but i wanted to try and get the feeling of frustration Luffy must have felt talking to someone who couldn't understand they were the ones in the wrong. From here on in the real enemy has appeared, dun, dun, duuuuun! Let me know what you think – I'd like a FEW reviews for this chappie at least, even if it's just so I know someone is still reading!! lol


	10. The meeting

I dont own One Piece

Something weird happened with the formatting when i uploaded this, all the grammer in the whole doc fell off... i fixed all the mistakes i could find, but sorry if i missed a few!!

Yay!! Only one more chapter to go after this one!! Let me know what you think!!

**Forgotten Powers **

**Chapter 10**

* * *

They were on their way to the next island when Luffy had twitched. He had been watching Usopp paint a picture and had been bored out of his mind. The young captain stood suddenly.

'Hey, Nami!' He yelled up at the kitchen, earning himself curious looks from Usopp and Zoro on deck.

The door to the kitchen opened and she stuck her head out. 'Yes?' she asked, walking forwards to lean on the rail, she blinked at the odd look on his face.

'We need to go back.' He told her, his grey eyes strangely distant almost as though he was looking through her.

'What? Why?' She asked startled by his sudden change. Luffy had been so glad to get away from Omelette Island, what would possibly make him want to go back. Usopp and Zoro were watching from the deck and Sanji was listening from the kitchen. Their eyes and Namis all widened at his answer.

'Someone's calling me.' He told her, his eyes finally focussing on her properly. He blinked and grinned. 'Weird huh?'

'Yeah!' Usopp muttered fervently.

Luffy laughed and shrugged, he tucked his hands casually into his pockets, his eyes were glinting strangely.

_It's the eyes. _Nami decided, when wondering to herself how her Captain could have changed so much.

'Oh,' he began in his usual innocent tone. 'Did I forget to tell you guys I can read minds now?' he asked offhandedly.

A loud crash came from the kitchen as Sanji dropped the pot he had been carrying. Zoro was staring at him a little suspiciously, but Nami for some reason was blushing fiercely.

'You can _what_?' Usopp shrieked. 'What am I thinking now?' he demanded.

Luffy put a finger against his chin as though thinking. 'You think Im lying.' He answered, easily reading the snipers disbelieving expression.

'You... you can...' Usopps mouth dropped open and his eyes popped. 'Y...you c...c...can rrr-read.' He stuttered.

Luffy started to nod, but lost his concentration and burst into laughter - Usopp's expression was just so funny.

'No, I cant.' He grinned.

'But...' Usopp began.

'I guessed.' Luffy grinned. Zoro laughed loudly and Nami huffed and went back into the kitchen to ask Sanji to turn the ship.

Luffys eyes glazed a little, still grinning. .'..someone is calling me though,' he muttered, half to himself. 'and they sound pretty desperate...'

Zoro and Usopp exchanged looks and held on as the ship began to slowly turn. The wind carrying them back to Omelette Island.

* * *

Ridgecut stood on the port of Omelette Island as the Going Merry sailed back into dock, he was surrounded, like always with underlings and body guards. One of his personal body guards stood on the his left side, tirelessly holding an umbrella over his Captains head to block out the rays of the harsh afternoon sun. There was another man on his right doing the same. The crew had been waiting and watching as Merry grew larger and larger. They still didnt know why the Straw-hats were returning, but they were not about to complain.

Though most of the men at the harbour had been forced to join Ridgecuts crew with shifty dealings or slavery, they had been trained well to fear his wrath over any enemy. Fear bound the crew together, many, like the nameless man who had informed Ridgecut that the Going Merry was returning to port, simply wished for freedom. To be able to choose, it didnt seem right to a lot of the men that they should pay for their entire lives for a decision their parents had made for them, without their consent. Stripping them of their rights and forcing them to work for this man.

The nameless man himself had been ordered to participate in the battle after making his triumphant report to Ridgecut, who had been sitting in the dingy tavern, an old bottle of scotch open in front of him.

He shook slightly as he stood in the sunshine, after he had made his report, Ridgecut had been pleased with him and had decided to reward him for his services. The ultimate honour the man had called it. He had ordered the nameless young man to watch the battle with Luffy closely, he was to wait until the most opportune moment and then throw himself in between his Captain and the enemy, taking the hit.

It was intended that his sudden intervention and ultimate death would shock Luffy for the crucial few moments it took Ridgecut to gain an advantage. The young man shook harder, all he wanted from his life was the ability to make his own decisions, to decide who he would marry, what his name would be, even what he would have for dinner. Even the decision of when he would die had been made for him. The idea of mutiny very briefly ran through his mind, it was quickly dispelled when he shot a look over his shoulder and saw Ridgecut amputate the right arm of the man who had allowed his umbrella to drop. The man had tired after standing in the same position for so long, and his arm had involuntarily dropped.

This was a lapse Ridgecut would never tolerate, anything less than the most attentive of his crew did not last long. As the man fell to the ground, clutching his arm Ridgecut moved forwards, he smirked and lifted one of his heavy steel-toed boots, the Captain then brought it crashing down as hard as he could on the chest of the man. The man gagged, blood spurting out of his mouth as his ribs were crushed from the force. Ridgecut stepped back again and impaled the man through the heart without so much as blinking. The pirates eyes widened, and his head fell back on the sand, his eyes glazing over. Hed never had the chance to make a noise.

The nameless young man looked back out to sea, his trembling intensifying after witnessing again, his Captains cruelty. He couldnt do it, there was no way he would survive if he disobeyed the Captain, the young man knew that with certainty. But, if he did his duty and protected Ridgecut with his body, the likelihood of him dying was high, but it was not certain. It was on this unknown percentage of doing his duty and somehow surviving that the young man was banking on. He could feign death, Ridgecut never bothered with the dead, but left them where they fell. If he was wounded badly enough that he looked dead, he could escape and finally live his life for himself.

His eyes shone with determination at that thought, it was a feeling he had not experienced for a long time, for so long it took him a moment to identify it. His eyes widened slightly when he finally realised what it was hope. He took a deep breath to steady himself and tightened his grip on his sword, his grip a big slick with nervous sweat. He shifted his sword to his other hand and wiped his sweaty hand on the rough material of his linen shirt, before transferring his sword back. He was ready.

* * *

Luffy twitched as they pulled into the harbour. 'Everyone be really careful,' he warned them, a little pale but his grey eyes were glittering strangely. 'The person calling is really, really desperate.' he gave a sudden, shuddering gasp, grasping at his head.

'Luffy!' Nami and Usopp cried.

'Are you ok?' Chopper demanded, in full doctor mode. Luffy straightened and looked at them, his eyes glowing even brighter and a strange grin on his face.

'He's here.' he informed the crew. They gasped as one when they caught his meaning. The one who could take his power, the one who could end all the goodness in the world was on the harbour below them?

They looked over the edge and saw a crowd of around 15 people all standing holding various weapons, none of them looked very happy to be there. In fact, most looked like they had never held a weapon in their life. Luffy grinned at the sight and placed a hand on the smooth rail of the Merry, easily vaulting himself over it and onto the sand below. The front row of armed enemies moved back, startled, which confirmed Luffys suspicions, they were not trained and they did NOT want to be there. He placed his hands casually in his pockets and grinned at the gathered group.

'Yo!' he said amicably, as his crew joined him on the beach. The front row shifted back another half step at the strange greeting, shooting each other furtive glances, was this really the infamous Strawhat crew?

Ridgecut stepped forwards, pushing his nakama harshly out of his way. 'You are mugiwara Luffy?' his eyes travelled up and down the young mans body slowly, in a way that made the other members of Luffy's crew distinctly uncomfortable. Here was a man who was obviously used to getting what he wanted, and from his expression it was clear that he wanted Luffy.

Zoro growled and thumbed a katana out of its sheath as a warning.

Luffy crossed his arms over his chest and glared, not saying a word.

The older pirates eyes finally reached Luffys face. 'You are younger than I expected.' he said, licking his lips with a strange expression on his face.

Luffy's crew tensed at the mans insulting tone, a protective need rising in them.

'And you're more of a pervert than I imagined, so what?' Luffy retorted breezily, shocking both Ridgecut's crew and his own. Ridgecut's with his obvious lack of intimidation and candour, his own crew by both recognising and then verbally acknowledging the older man's lecherous looks. Luffy simply stood, arms crossed over his chest, staring the taller man down.

'Whooooo...' Sanji muttered with a smirk, turning his head to one side to light a cigarette.

Zoro stifled his own grin and re-sheathed his sword. His Captain would clearly be fine on his own.

Ridgecut's eyes blazed in fury at the remark. 'You dare to goad me, boy?'

Luffy shrugged one shoulder, his arms still crossed. 'I dont like you,' he began blandly. 'You seem like a bastard.' his tone was light, but his own blazing eyes gave away his fury.

Ridgecut began to growl under his breath. 'You have no idea who youre dealing with, mugiwara.'

Luffy simply grinned at the man and placed his hands in his pockets, looking up at the blue sky above and looking like he didn't have a care in the world. 'I'm only here because I chose to be.' he reminded Ridgecut simply. 'Otherwise you'd still be looking for me.' The rubber pirates eyes swept over the mismatched band of pirates behind the other man and gestured without removing his hand from his pocket. 'One of them called for me, asking for help.'

The young nameless man flinched violently at that comment, but only Luffy and his crew noticed the movement as the man was at the back of the group. Luffy nodded at the man subtly, making the others eyes widen. This man, this infamous pirate had heard him calling and had turned his boat around - coming back to aid a person he had never even met? The young man felt tears come to his eyes, and harshly brushed them away before anyone in his crew could notice.

Ridgecut turned furious eyes on his crew, who flinched as one. The straw-hats noticed and shot each other confused glances. Once again it was Luffy who broke the silence.

'You're crew are scared of you.' he stated, not really asking, but still managing to sound curious.

Ridgecut smirked and created a ball of ice in his hand that was roughly the size of an orange - it had long, very sharp spikes in an irregular pattern all the way around. Nami and Usopp gasped as Ridgecut moved towards one of his crew, the nasty looking ball still hovering over his palm.

He gripped the left hand of the man standing closest to him, who paled considerably.

'No, Captain Ridgecut please!' The man begged weakly, trying to free his arm from the larger mans vice like grip.

'What are you doing?' Zoro demanded harshly, thumbing his sheath. Ridgecut didn't even flinch. He stared at Luffy for one long moment, then with a strange flick of his wrist, launched the ball into the mans hand. With a dull thud, the ball hit, the spikes sinking into his hand and penetrating out the other side.

Chopper gasped and the others stood wide-eyed at the mans obvious insanity.

The sailors screams of agony ripped through the air and he fell to the ground, gripping his arm to his chest.

Luffy very slowly removed his hands from his pockets as his crew watched the scene before them in disbelief.

'That freaking bastard.' Sanji mumbled.

His own nakama Usopp said shakily, his voice confused. 'Why?'

Luffy agreed, tilting his straw-hat back with one finger and spoke, his voice cutting through the mans screams easily. 'Why would you do that to your crewmate?'

Ridgecut gave a sneering laugh at the obvious rage generating from the smaller crew. 'They are here only to serve me, when that purpose has been fulfilled, they are dead weight.' Lighting fast, he unsheathed his sword and swung it down, clearly meaning to amputate the prone man's entire arm.

Nami threw her hands over her eyes with a gasp. There was a loud clang and then silence.

'Zoro!' Luffy cried, his swordsman now blocking the much taller man's swing with his own katana.

The moss-haired young man glared up at Ridgecut. 'You have no honour, which means you have no right to that blade.' he informed the other.

Ridgecut sneered in anger, unable to move his sword down even a fraction. Luffy and Sanji exchanged surprised glances as they realised Ridgecuts stance was full of holes. It seemed that although Ridgecut was a competent fighter, he relied mainly on his destructive powers and his brute strength. It was true that Zoro was having some difficulty in maintaining the block with the mans muscle mass pushing down on him, but the other man was clearly technically disadvantaged compared to the young pirate. That must have been why Ridgecut chose to surround himself with men who had never picked up a weapon in their lives - there would be no possibility of mutiny on a ship where the crew believed their Captain was an incredible fighter.

'They're my crew.' he spat, a strange glint coming into his eyes as Zoro still prevented him from seeing the blood he craved. 'I will do with them what I like.' he pushed down even harder, but still Zoro wouldn't budge.

The man underneath his feet whimpered, holding onto his arm, but was too paralysed with fear to move out of harms way.

'Shit!' Sanji mumbled, 'Crappy bastard, whats he doing?' The blonde cook darted out from behind Luffy suddenly when he noticed the green haired swordsman trying to widen his stance to more effectively redirect Ridgecuts blade, only to find the injured man underfoot. The narrow stance throwing off the swordsmans balance. The cook reached the pair in less than a second and scooped the injured pirate up, carrying him back to the sidelines where Chopper was waiting to examine him.

'I will not allow you use that tainted blade any more.' Zoro declared.

Ridgecut's face abruptly changed into a cruel sneer at Zoro's words. Luffy's eyes narrowed, something was not right.

'With my blade, you say?' he began, lifting one hand off the hilt of his sword and holding it up in a surrender sign. Luffy went pale.

'Zoro, MOVE!' he screamed suddenly, startling his crew. Ridgecut shot Luffy a look of pure hatred laced with triumph. Nami felt her blood turn to ice.

'Oi, Marimo!' Sanji yelled.

'ZORO!' Usopp screamed at the same time, each picking up on the older pirates glinting eyes.

Zoro's head began to very slowly turn in their direction - looking first to Luffy. Zoro briefly noticed the look of absolute terror on his Captain's face and felt his own eyes begin to widen.

He dropped his swords down towards his chest in a protective stance as Ridgecut's voice reached him again. 'No blades? So be it.' The taller pirate suddenly launched the hand he had been holding up directly into Zoro's chest, there was a brief flash of light as the full force of the power behind the blow hit him, and then Zoro was flying through the air, crashing through trees and then the brick walls of the shops and houses on the outskirts of the town.

The swordsman finally came to a stop when he crashed into the side of a massive boulder on the other side of the town, he slid silently to the ground and lay unmoving.

'ZORO!!' Usopp, Nami and Chopper screamed.

'Stupid marimo!' Sanji hissed, rushing forwards. 'Can't see danger when it's right in front of him.'

'Who can't see danger?' A smooth voice came from his right.

Sanji turned startled to see Ridgecut had appeared next to him - his hand already moving into the same surrender sign he had just plastered Zoro with.

'Sanji!!' Nami screamed, her hands flying to her mouth.

Sanji instinctively squeezed his eyes shut, preparing himself for the blow. He tensed when he felt a sudden gust of wind and an odd grunting noise, but no blow came. The cook opened his eyes slowly to see what had stopped Ridgecuts attack.

'Luffy?!?' He exclaimed in shock. The others gasped in shock, they had not seen him move - and to cover the distance between where they were standing and where Sanji was... not even Gear Second could have gotten him there in time. Luffy held Ridgecut's arm in a grip that looked like it would have snapped the arm of a smaller man. Luffy turned furious silver eyes to his nakama and spoke in a deceptively calm voice.

'Go and check on Zoro.' Sanji found himself nodding and ran to their fallen friend, as his Captain's grip tightened on the other man even more. The blonde had never seen the rubber-man so angry and found himself a little awed by it. He had seen the power behind those silver eyes, and he was suddenly very glad Luffy was on their side.

Sanji found he could understand the black-haired pirates rage. For Luffy to have finally found someone with the same powers as himself and to find they were being misused like that on the man's own nakama would have gone against everything the younger pirate believed in. Ridgecut had then made the one mistake their Captain would never, ever forgive. He had threatened Luffy's nakama.

Sanji knelt down besides where Zoro lay face-down in the dirt and gently turned him over. He gasped lightly at the spectacular and already darkening bruise on the swordsmans chest. There were at least three broken ribs, if not more.

'Baka-swordsman...' He fumed, relieved to see that the ribs seemed to be the extent of his nakamas injuries. It seemed the swordsman had managed to get his swords into the block quickly enough to reduce the severity of the blow.

The cook sat back on his heels with a relieved sigh. Zoro would be fine, the swordsman had definitely had worse injuries than this before.

'Luffy!!!' Sanji looked up startled at Namis cry to see his Captain falling backwards, the rubber pirate jumped to continue the motion and performed a perfect backwards handspring.

Ridgecut roared and fired a ball of ice the size of his head at the young pirate who dodged easily. The ice-ball continued its motion, hitting a tree with a dull smack and embedding itself deep into the trunk.

Sanji tilted his head to one side as Luffy landed a punch that sent the taller man into the dust - Ridgecuts crew was silent, none of them were rushing to their Captain's aid, none of them were yelling in concern, it was almost as though they wanted Luffy to win.

The blonde cook flicked a look over towards the Merry where Chopper was still tending to the injured man's hand and reconsidered, maybe they _did_ want Luffy to win.

Ridgecut launched himself over to the rubber captain and stumbled slightly as Luffy jumped nimbly to one side, launching a fireball from each hand as he hung upside down. The taller man dodged one, but the second hit him square in the chest, knocking him down again and leaving a scorch mark in his chest the size of a dinner plate. Luffy continued the flip,, landing smoothly and launching a gattling gun without pause.

Ridgecut gave a barking laugh and transported unexpectedly to the left, leaving Luffy to crash into the ground hard, unable to stop his forward momentum in time. The older pirate launched himself at Luffy's unguarded back, taking advantage of the young mans momentary disorientation.

'Look out!' Chopper yelled from the sidelines.

Luffy turned and dodged with a yelp, the huge ball of jagged ice Ridgecut had planned to ambush him with missing him by a hair. The rubber pirates eyes widened when he realised his advesary had formed another two in rapid succession - one in each hand. The black-haired boy jumped landed and immediately launched himself into a black flip, evasively manouvering to dodge the dangerous balls. He twisted to the side the larger ball rushing past his head to slam into the ground with a crack - he gasped when he realised the second ball was already flying towards his face. He grunted and brought both hands, palm out up to cover his face - he generated his own fireball and fired it quickly as he hung upside down. The two balls collided, Luffy's fireball melting Ridgecuts ice into harmless water. Luffy landed smoothly, panting slightly from the unexpected turn in the battle.

Luffy stared at Ridgecut, the older man obviously had more experience using his powers in battle, but his technique and fighting ability were rather substandard by Luffy's perspective. It wasn't that Ridgecut wasn't dangerous, on the contrary, the man was clearly unbalanced, and his massive strength combined with the powers made him an enemy to be wary of.

The rubber pirate blinked in surprise and reached up, feeling something drip down his forehead. His fingers touched liquid and he brought it back down to eye level. Blood, he must have been nicked by a piece of flying ice or rock during their battle.

'That look suits you.'

Luffy started, to find Ridgecut observing him from only meters away, the same hungry look on his face as when they had first met.

'Wha?' Luffy stopped himself and wiped his hand on his trousers, watching as Ridgecut's eyes followed the movement. 'You like blood.' It was not a question. Luffy felt and odd shiver pass up his spine at the look that passed his opponent's face at that question. Ridgecut didn't answer immediately, he simply stood - watching the blood drip down Luffy's face - he licked his lips again.

'Oh, yes.' the taller man admitted finally, taking another step forwards. 'The colour, the texture, the smell...' he paused, the hungry look deepening. 'The _taste - _I love it all.' Ridgecut took another step forwards. 'I plan to see you covered in it, _slippery_ with it - by the time we are done.'

Luffy took half a step back and actually paled a few shades, at the man's enthusiastic admission. This was not good, Ridgecut was clearly insane, and much more dangerous than Luffy had originally realised.

It was no use, if he was to stop Ridgecut from ever abusing innocent people with his powers again, there was nothing else for it... he crouched into his Gear Second position and gave a wry smile, he was going to have to destroy Ridgecut completely.

* * *

AN Whooooooo one chapter to go! Please review and let me know what you thought. The last chapter should be up next week. Cheeeeeeers.


	11. Battle End

I dont own One Piece...

This is the final chappie, thanks so much to everyone who has supported this story so far. So here is an extra long bonus chapter!!!

**Forgotten Powers **

**Chapter 11**

Luffy crouched into his Gear Second position, his silver eyes never leaving Ridgecuts face. The black haired pirate smirked and the ground underneath him began to crack, sounding as though a massive weight was forcing its way down on the ground. A deep depression suddenly formed, Luffy still crouching in the centre of it, he continued to force his power into it for a few moments and then he jumped - forcing his power into the ground to get th eleverage he needed to launch himself high into the air.

Ridgecut smirked - so the strawhat wanted to change the playing field? He was fine with that. Ridgecut launched himself into the air after Luffy, a loud whooshing noise and the cracked earth underneath him the only indicators of his rapid movement.

'Whoa!' Sanji exclaimed, watching the battle in astonishment. As the crew watched, Luffy finished his ascent and began flipped gracefully in the air. He closed his eyes and began the long plummet back down to earth.

Ridgecut was almost to him now - his own additional bulk did not allow him to get quite as high as Luffys lighter frame. His ascent began to slow and his eyes widened briefly at the sight of the boy who was plummeting head first towards him. Luffys eyes snapped open and he twisted his body to one side, his hands clasped together.

The older pirate smirked, it was clear Luffy was about to unleash a giant ball of fire. The taller man would easily be able to counter it, all he had to do was wait the boy out - get him to fire his own ball first. A long moment passed and Ridgecut frowned suddenly when he noticed Luffy was now almost on him and still had shown no sign of creating the energy ball. The taller man caught Luffys glittering eyes and realised hed drastically miscalculated - the young pirate wasnt going to use power at all. Ridgecut panicked, he no longer had enough time to move out of the way of Luffys trajectory - instinctively he brought his hands up to protect his head, only to have Luffys Gum-gum bazooka slam into his solar plexus - he felt a rib break, the ruthless pirates ascent abruptly ceased and he began plummeting back down to earth, much more quickly than he had left it.

Ridgecut focussed through the pain in his chest and focussed his power on the front of his body - using the power to cushion his fall. He landed on the ground with a sickening crack - the hard rock of the ground flew apart from the force of the impact - the crater from his landing was roughly 10 m deep.

Luffy landed a short distance away, much more lightly - denting the ground when he impacted, rather than destroying it. He stood smoothly and waited, his arms crossed and his expression unreadable. He was breathing slightly heavier than usual - but he still seemed to be in good shape.

* * *

'D-did I just see what I think I saw?' Usopp asked weakly.

No one answered the marksman, each apparently overwhelmed by the enormity of Luffys new power. It was obvious to all of them, that Luffy was angry - he was not as uncontrollably furious as he had been when he had frozen the town a few days before, but this was more of a righteous rage. The anger Luffy occasionally experienced when one of his values had been badly damaged by someone.

They had not seen Luffy simmering in rage like this since he had destroyed Wapol of the Drum Kingdom - then it had been caused by the tyrants disrespect for the pirate mark of Choppers father Hiruruk, and by the gluttonous Kings attack on him when he had been carrying the injured Sanji and sick Nami up the Drum Rockies.

'What set him off?' Sanji asked quietly, watching in amazement as Ridgecut finally stood - small rocks from the impact fell from his clothes.

'Looks like he's finally realised Ridgecut is completely insane.' Zoro mumbled. 'There'll be no repentance from that perverted bastard for hurting his crew. Looks like Luffy has decided to do the world a favour and completely destroy him.'

They crew watched in disgust as Ridgecut stood and sucked hungrily at a small cut on his own arm. Luffy turned his head to one side, unable to watch the disgusting sight.

'Urgh!' Sanji exclaimed, putting a hand over his own mouth. Unbidden flickers of his own childhood entered his thoughts unexpectedly - of a man he loved like a father sitting with one leg missing on a rock in the middle of an ocean. His eyes prickled with sudden tears and the cook averted his own eyes - blinking rapidly.

Luffy's eyes shot in the cooks direction and hardened when he realised Sanji's crisis. The Captain uncrossed his arms and let them fall to his side. He nodded discreetly at the momentarily upset cook - his expression clearly saying he would make Ridgecut pay for bringing back such painful memories. He turned to face the older man, a hard glare on his face.

Sanji grinned to himself as Luffy landed another blow to the taller man, knocking him again into the dust. What had the old witch been so worried about? Luffy had this fight sorted.

The older pirate stood suddenly and shot a look of expectation at a man standing off to the side-lines, the man Sanji noticed as the one who had flinched when Luffy had told them that he had been called.

The man flinched again, and nodded in understanding, his head hanging low as if defeated.

Ridgecut turned his attention back to Luffy, who landed a strong punch right into the taller mans solar plexus, increasing the force behind it by adding some of his own power.

Sanji watched with concern as Luffy wound up for a kick and Ridgecut didn't move, a superior grin on his face. Luffy's face showed some confusion, but he didn't hesitate in his kick, unleashing it with all his might towards the other.

There was a sudden flash of blue as the young man in the blue linen shirt Ridgecut had signalled ran out in front of his Captain. Luffy gasped in surprise and tried to stop his kick, but it was too late. The powerful kick caught the young man in the chest and knocked him straight through a tree. Luffy hopped on one leg, momentarily off balance. His silver eyes wide with horror as he noticed the young man was not moving at all.

Ridgecut smirked at the distracted young pirate and held out both his hands.

'Luffy!!' Usopp called, catching his friends attention.

The black-haired man turned back to the fight only to see a huge ball of water was coming directly for him. Luffy gasped again and tried to move out of the way, but the ball was too large. It swept Lufy up and floated into the air, Luffy still trapped inside.

'LUFFY!!' Nami screamed, watching him struggle to free himself.

'Fire star!' Usopp yelled, firing a shot at the huge ball of water from his sling-shot. It hit dead on and hissed as it contacted the water, the ball didn't even shudder. The crew watched in horror as Luffy's eyes slid closed and he stopped struggling, the curse from his devil-fruit powers taking hold in his watery prison.

Usopp desperately fired several more boshi, trying hard to save his friend. All of his shots hit, but none did any damage, the huge ball simply absorbing all of the shots. 'Aaaaah!!' the marksman yelled in frustration, his voice breaking.

Luffy was no longer moving, he was simply floating in the bubble - seemingly unconscious.

Ridgecut began to laugh at the marksmans desperate attempts.

'Shit!!' Sanji exclaimed, moving forwards. A hand on his shoulder stopped him and he spun to find Zoro looking at him from a sitting position. 'We need to get him out.' Zoro began, his eyes hard and then keep that bastard busy until Luffy can move again. Sanji nodded.

'You attack low, Ill go for high.' The swordsman didn't respond, he unsheathed his swords and ran, the cook close behind. Ridgecuts laughing abruptly ceased when Sanji's first kick caught him squarely in the side of the head. Zoros sword's followed next, catching the huge man behind the knees and knocking him to the ground.

Losing his concentration, Ridgecut's ball of water disbanded, falling from the sky to splash on the ground, Luffy falling with it.

Usopp, Chopper and Nami ran to Luffy's side as he lay, unmoving in the middle of the water.

'Oh no...' Nami whispered. Usopp fell to his knees next to their Captain and felt for a pulse while Chopper checked his breathing.

'He has a pulse.' Usopp breathed.

'No breathing.' Chopper grunted, changing into his human form and starting to pump the water from Luffy's lungs.

'Shit!!' Sanji exclaimed again - shooting an anxious look towards their Captain. Ridgecut barely managed to block an oni-giri attack from Zoro - launching the injured swordsman back towards the cook - panting heavily as his broken ribs rubbed together.

'Yeah, we might have to distract the perverted bastard for a few more minutes.' Zoro grumbled through the sword in his mouth.

'If we keep attacking together, the sleazy bastard won't have a chance to use that power of his.' Sanji put in, Zoro nodded in agreement and they leapt forwards again.

'Collier shoot!' Sanji yelled, coming in from the right.

'Oni-giri!' Zoro growled, attacking from underneath.

Ridgecut grunted as the attacks found their mark, and was sent crashing to the ground. The older pirate's crew still didnt move as they continued to watch their captain get beaten.

'Come on Luffy!' Chopper begged, pumping water from his lungs. At last Luffy gave a weak cough.

'Yes!' The doctor turned the black-haired man onto his side, allowing him to more easily cough up the water.

'Urgh!' Luffy groaned after a few minutes, clearly weakened from the water.

'Thank god!' Usopp whispered to himself. That was too close. Nami nodded, agreeing - tears of stress standing out in her eyes. Luffy coughed weakly and sat up, swaying slightly he seemed to be having some trouble focusing his eyes.

'Take it easy!' Chopper ordered, 'You almost drowned!!'

Luffy smiled at his doctor. 'Thanks Chopper.' He laughed weakly, his eyes still not quite focussed. 'You saved me again.'

'Are you ok?' Usopp demanded.

Luffy chuckled and stood, wavering a little on his feet. 'I'm fine.' he said with a grin.

The others looked at the still unsteady man doubtfully.

'Sanji!' Zoro's voice yelled, as the cook was punched hard, landing hard on the rocky ground and sliding along for a few moments. The cook sat up and spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground then relaunched himself back at the pirate.

Luffy stumbled into a tree as his head spun, trying to follow the fast movements of the battle.

'Eh?' he mumbled, a slight ringing noise echoing through the air when he knocked his arm into the rough bark of the tree trunk. The ringing grew louder and Luffy looked at his arm in astonishment - he had just activated the strange black and white bracelet his shishou had given him when he had finished his training.

He looked up bewildered as the ringing intensified to find the others staring at him, their mouths open in astonishment. 'What?' he asked, covering his ears to try and block out the ringing in his head.

'You're glowing!' Usopp exclaimed, rather loudly

'I'm what???' Luffy gasped. The ringing abruptly stopped and Luffy blinked at the sudden silence, his vision dimmed and his hearing faded out. He could still see his friends, but he could no longer answer them. The rubber pirate was staring at them as though looking through a dark shroud, he blinked again when he realised there was something else moving behind the blackness- he was suddenly certain that it was something that only he could see.

'Luffy, oi!!' Usopp exclaimed, each watching as he simply continued to glow and stare into space.

Luffy twitched. 'Shishou...' he whispered.

'Shishou?' Chopper asked.

'It must have something to do with that bracelet she gave him.' Nami suggested. 'She said to use it when he needs help and he just activated it by accident.'

She gasped when Zoro's voice echoed through the clearing, yelling in pain when Ridgecut managed to land a cheap shot to his broken ribs. Ridgecut smirked and was about to land another when Sanji, battered and bruised himself, kicked the older pirate clean across the stomach, Sanji landed with a sharp intake of breath and clutched at his shoulder which was bleeding profusely.

The older man stood after a moment with his hand holding his stomach. He coughed up a mouthful of blood and stared at Sanji for a long moment. A strangled groan escaped the cook when Ridgecut suddenly transported himself over to the blond cook and lifted his chin up with one hand. He sniffed deeply at Sanji's wounded shoulder, then looked at the started man.

'That colour also suits you, when I am finished with your Captain. You will be next.' He licked his lips and bent forwards. Sanji narrowed his eyes and kicked upwards with all his might, catching the taller pirate hard in the chin and knocking him back into the dirt. Sanji grabbed at his shoulder when it jarred in the movement and bent to help Zoro to his feet.

'Sleazy bastard!' he choked out.

'You ok?' Zoro asked, panting heavily and clutching at his broken ribs.

'Yeah. I can't keep this up much longer though.' The cook admitted. 'He's not the best fighter, but he's fast and that power is incredible.'

Zoro grunted in acknowledgement and put his sword back in his mouth. 'We just have to hold him off a few more minutes.'

* * *

'Hurry Luffy!' Nami pleaded watching her crew members visibly weakening even to her eyes. 'They can't keep this up much longer. Sooner or later, he's going to catch one of them with his power. They aren't invincible!!!'

Luffy twitched again in reaction to her words and the glowing that surrounded him intensified.

'Woah!' Usopp exclaimed, shielding his eyes with the back of his hand.

_'Shishou__?' _Luffy asked in his mind, unable to speak through his mouth. The image on the other plane became clearer - his friends greying out even more until they were just black silhouettes in the background, they were beginning to distract him from the image that was solidifying before him. He closed his eyes to shut out his friends and the image suddenly became clear - he saw his teacher sitting at the table in her kitchen.

'Ah, you face him already?' She asked, her tone serious. Luffy couldnt help but grin slightly, when he saw the plate of mashed zucchini in front of her.

He nodded quickly. 'He is strong and fast, but his technique is not very good. He took us by surprise though, hes using dirty tactics and were no longer in any condition to fight him. My friends are struggling and I'm trying to regain my strength after being in contact with the water.'

The witch nodded, her hands folded calmly on the table. 'That, young one is why I gave you the bracelet.'

Luffy looked at her in surprise. 'What?' She sighed and quickly clarified.

'You are honourable, that is why you were the one that was given the golden power, however it can also be a weakness as you do not expect others to use dirty tactics. This makes it easy for them to take advantage of you and your unwavering sense of justice.' She paused and looked him over.

'You still seem to be in good shape, weakened as though you are I admit it was unexpected for him to exploit the weakness associated with your devil-fruit. Although not so unexpected that I did not plan for the possibility.'

Luffy looked at her a bit desperately. 'What do you mean? My nakama are getting hurt while we wait.'

'Listen to me,' she advised. 'What I mean to do will indeed help your nakama, however, it may do some damage to your body in the process.'

'I don't care!' Luffy exclaimed, his thoughts clearly focussed solely saving his friends.

She smiled and held out her hand. 'I will give you my powers temporarily, they will mix with your own and should give you enough to defeat Ridgecut easily enough. However, you will not be able to hold that much power for long. It will all depend on your will to defeat him.'

'You can do that?' Luffy asked bewildered, he held out his own hand and the witch took it.

'Yes but as I said, it will cause you damage' - her expression hardened. 'even so, he _must_ not win.'

She closed her eyes, focussing on their entwined hands - letting her power run through the connection and into him.

The black haired boy tensed at the strangely invasive feeling, but the exchange did not take long, it was only a few seconds later that Luffy felt the connection weaken and the plane he and his teacher were currently occupying began to close, the witch not having enough power left to keep her side of the connection open.

'Use it well.' Her voice reached him sounding strained and fatigued. With a strange rushing feeling, Luffy once again found himself standing next to the tree, his eyes wide and his hand still outstretched. With a clang, Luffy felt the witches power click with his own so forcibly and completely that he fell to his hands and knees with a gasp.

'What's wrong?' Usopp squeaked.

'...too much!' The black-haired pirate muttered through gritted teeth. 'I d-don't think... I c-can hold it!' his head slumped forwards.

'What are you talking about?' Namii demanded.

'What the hell happened?' Usopp asked, watching Luffy struggle with something they couldn't see.

'Shi-shishou, she gave me h...her powers too... t-too much!' He gasped head still low.

There was a yell off to one side and he wearily lifted his head to see Sanji smash into the rocky ground hard, sliding for a few meters on his side. Luffys eyes narrowed.

'Sanji and Zoro need you!!' Nami exclaimed. 'They can't hold him off much longer!' She suppressed a gasp when Luffy finally raised his head and looked at her, his eyes were a deep, smouldering silver - the navigator could practically see the power overflowing and found herself concerned. No human body could hold that much power for long.

The watched as he gently shook his head, seeming to get a hold of the power. He stood fluidly. 'Time to finish this.' He muttered, moving forwards.

'Go Luffy!' Usopp yelled, as the Captain began to walk away. Luffy looked over his shoulder and winked, disappearing before they could say another word and appearing directly behind Ridgecut over 100 meters away.

The straw-hatted captain reached up a hand and stood slightly on tip-toes to tap the taller man on the shoulder just as he was about to land another cheap shot in Zoro's ribs.

'Oi.' he said softly, taking the older pirate completely by surprise. He spun around quickly, his previous prey completely forgotten, he froze when he saw the smouldering fire in Luffys eyes - the, younger pirate took advantage of his advesaries momentary distraction to take stock of his friends.

Sanji was limping heavily due to a large scorch mark on his right leg, just underneath his knee. He had a black eye and bloody nose as well as the deep wound in his shoulder that was causing him so much grief.

Zoro, however, was worse still, he seemed unable to stand completely straight - his left hand was dangling uselessly, blood dripping off his fingers due to a large gash above his elbow. Luffy nodded to them in approval. 'Thanks for holding him guys, go take a break - Ill handle it from here.'

He turned to Ridgecut as Sanji helped Zoro towards Chopper and fell into a fighting stance. 'Did you miss me?' he asked sweetly.

'You have no idea'. Ridgecut muttered again, licking his lips. Luffy shuddered and rolled his eyes, he held both hands up and closed his eyes and brought them quickly back down - the palms pointing towards Ridgecut. He opened his eyes again and the glowing almost knocked Ridgecut off his feet - his eyes widened when he realised Luffy needed to release the pent up power as soon as possible and Ridgecut didn't have any room to move out of the way.

'WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!' Luffy screamed, pouring everything he had and had been given into a giant fireball the size of merry. Ridgecut braced himself, but didnt have any chance of moving in time. The entire island shook as the fireball slammed into the taller pirate, Ridgecut smashed into the ground and slid along the ground for a long distance, but Luffy wasn't finished. He teleported above the other man who was already struggling to rise.

'HA!!' he screamed again, firing another three fireballs in quick succession - the giant balls of fire slamming into the earth with such force that the ground began to crack.

Luffy fired two more before allowing himself to fall back down to the ground. He landed on his feet, stumbling slightly and rested his hands on his knees, panting harshly. He kept his eyes on the hole he had left Ridgecut in, waiting for some sign that the man who could have the power to destroy the world would not get back up.

* * *

The blue robed man awoke just in time to see Luffy fire the last two fireballs into the ground and took a moment for his mind to catch up with what was happening. .

_Now, now was his chance!_ He stood quickly, ignoring the spinning in his head and his screaming muscles. He was also fairly sure he had a few broken ribs, but these were nothing. He froze suddenly, he was not the only one in Ridgecuts crew who was a slave. He turned slowly and looked over his shoulder at the group of young men who stood frozen to one side - observing the battle between Captains.

A grin crossed his face and he ran over to them, his ribs jolting with every step. He had thought of the perfect escape. His sudden movement grabbed their attention and the young men looked at him in amazement.

'Listen to me quickly.' he hissed urgently to the astounded men. 'While Ridgecut is wounded and distracted by Strawhat - now is the time to escape. I am going to take his boat and sail it away now, while we have the chance.' He gestured at the men, desperately trying to get them to understand his plan. His voice cracked. 'If you're with me, follow me now - if you want to follow your own dreams, to be your own person follow me now!!!!' Tears filled his eyes and several of the men began to look hesitant. 'I need some of you to come, I can't steer the ship on my own... please...' his voice cracked again. 'We will never again be given an opportunity like this. An opportunity like the one Strawhat Luffy has given us now.'

He saw the desperate anticipation on their faces and knew they were with him, he began to run towards the ship, holding his ribs with his hand. 'Lets go!'

With a yell, the rest of the crew followed him.

_Thank you_. The man thought desperately at Luffy as he ran. _Thank you so much! _

He looked over at the still exhausted straw hat and was surprised to see him lift his head wearily and flash him a quick grin and a thumbs up.

The nameless man broke into tears of joy as he ran up the gang plank behind the rest of the crew.

They were free - and it was all thank to the infamous Mugiwara pirates.

* * *

Luffy smiled to himself as he watched the crew of young men run away up the beach. _Thank god_. He thought to himself. They would never have to deal with Ridgecut again, Luffy would make sure of that. He turned his attention back to the seemingly unconscious man in the hole, not yet having enough stamina to stand up properly to walk over to see if he was still conscious enough to consider a threat. He could feel the witches power struggling to leave him - but he held onto it with all his might. He wasn't sure if it was safe to yet, not until Ridgecut was completely defeated.

Ridgecut twitched briefly and Luffy tensed - the man exhaled slowly, breathing out a long stream of silver mist - the power leaving his body.

Luffy sighed in relief, Ridgecut had lost the power, he was now just an ordinary man with adequate fighting ability. He also looked like he wouldnt be feeling up to causing anyone any trouble for at least another few months if he ever walked again.

'OI!!' Luffy looked up, still panting harshly to see his crew running towards him, he grinned as they arrived, Zoro leaning heavily on Chopper for support while Usopp was supporting Sanji. Luffy watched them arrive with concern.

'a...are yo-you guys, ok?' He panted.

Zoro grinned and Sanji flashed a thumbs up. 'Absolutely!' The cook exclaimed. Luffy laughed softly.

'How's the bastard?' Sanji asked, lighting up a cigarette and gesturing towards the crater. Luffy finally straightened up, hiding his slight stumble when his head span by taking a small step forward towards the hole - Ridgecut was still unmoving.

'He'll live.' He said. He lost his power though so now he's just a bastard. Everyone laughed at the typically Luffy assessment and Usopp strode forwards, pulling Sanji with him, the sharpshooter chuckled lightly.

'Well, we always knew you'd save the world.' He grinned, patting Luffy lightly on the shoulder. He was completely unprepared for his Captain's reaction. At the added pressure of his marksmans hand, Luffys legs buckled underneath him and he passed out silently, falling to the rocky ground with a dull thump. A small trickle of blood leaked out of his partially open mouth and he exhaled slowly - a red mist escaping and floating away on the wind, apparently on its way back to the witch.

'Luffy!!' Nami exclaimed in horror.

'Whoa!' Sanji yelled, pulling away from Usopp to kneel next to his fallen friend. 'What the _hell?'_

_'What _did you _do_?' Zoro demanded, rounding on the sniper.

'Nothing, I swear - I barely touched him!!' Usopp screamed. 'What's wrong with him?'

Chopper padded forwards and leant down to gauge his captain's heart rate.

The little doctor chuckled. 'He's fine, absolutely fine just having a quick nap from the look of it. The witches power leaving his body seems to have knocked him out for a few minutes, the power must have been too much combined with his own. Its a good thing his body is made of rubber though, I don't think anyone else would be as undamaged after that.' He paused to look fondly at their snoozing Captain. 'He'll just be a bit sore I think.'

'But what about the blood?' Nami asked, pointing to the small line, working its way out of their Captain's life.

Chopper giggled. 'He um... bit his tongue on the way down. He'll be completely fine in a day or two.'

'He...' Nami choked back a laugh, the pressure of the battle finally getting to her. 'bit his tongue?'

Chopper nodded, his own face twitching as he tried not to laugh. The crew shook their heads, each laughing softly. There really was nothing to worry about.

'Hey Sanji.' Nami asked sweetly. 'Can we have a BBQ on the beach tonight? Luffy is going to want a lot of meat after that one.'

Sanji's eye lit up. 'Nami-swan is so considerate!! Of course, I'll go and start the marinades now.' He bounded back to the ship, injuries apparently forgotten.

Zoro lowered himself down until he was sitting next to Luffy on the sand. 'Love cook.' he mumbled.

'Sanji is Sanji and Zoro is Zoro.' A voice to his left stated wisely. The swordsman looked down with a slight grin to see Luffy laying on his back on the sand, staring up at him with his silver eyes. Zoro sighed, a little exasperated, noticing Luffy already seemed fine after the difficult battle.

'...and Luffy is Luffy.' He muttered under his breath. Marvelling at the Captains healing abilities.

'You finally get it?' Luffy laughed, his stomach growled loudly. 'Man, Im _hungry_.' He looked up with a smile when Usopp came over to sit on the other side of Luffy.

'We're having a BBQ.' The sharpshooter advised.

The Captain's eyes widened in anticipation. 'Wow! BBQ Sanjis are the best!' he advised them, confusing his words and not realising it. His brain apparently still just the tiniest bit dazed from the fight.

'BBQ Sanji?' Usopp grinned.

'What a good idea.' Zoro smirked.

'Eh?' Luffy muttered, watching the two continue their conversation in confusion.

Nami came over to sit with him and Chopper moved to the kitchen to make sure Sanji wasnt over doing it on his injured leg. 'How's your tongue?' She giggled.

Luffy looked at her in confusion for a minute, then he moved his tongue around in his mouth and his eyes widened a bit. 'Hey, my tongue is sore!' he turned to the navigator who was watching him with a grin on her face. 'Why is my tongue sore?'

Nami finally burst into laughter at the expression on his face, covering her mouth with her hand.

Luffy watched with a grin on his face and snuggled back into the sand, ready to take another quick nap while Sanji finished their dinner.

* * *

_'Here he is Captain Shanks.'__ the man with his arm around Luffy__s back muttered quietly, unaware that although the boy was too exhausted to answer, he was wide awake. _

_'We'__re not sure what happened to the town, but it'__s like a bomb went off up there.'__ The man whispered, he missed Luffy'__s imperceptible twitch - Shanks however did not. _

_'A bomb, eh?'__ the red-haired man asked quietly, stroking his chin and observing the boy. '__Is there anyone left?'__ he asked the mate. _

_The man grimaced slightly. '__No sir'_

_'I see...'__ Shanks thought for a moment, there was something special about this little boy, he just couldni__t place a finger on it._

_'We'__ll__ take him with us.'__ He decided on a sudden whim - startling both himself and the mate. _

_'He'__s a bit young to be ship__s boy, Captain.'__ the mate pointed out cautiously. _

_'We'__ll__ drop him off in Fuschia until he'__s old enough to sail with us. I know a few people there would be willing to take in such a cute kid.'_

_'Oi__, Barmon!'__ one of the crew called the mate. '__We need a hand with the sails.'_

_'Aye!'__ the mate called back, he looked at the boy in his arms, unsure what to do with him. _

_Shanks sighed and held out his arms. '__Give him here.'_

_Barmon__ grinned '__Thanks Cap.'__ he laughed, passing his little package over very carefully, then waving and running to help his nakama furl the sails. Shanks stood on the beach alone with the little boy in his arms. _

_The man frowned when Luffy flinched, Shanks rolled back the sleeve of the boy__s too large shirt to reveal a welt the size of a plum, which was just beginning to darken. _

_He sighed and looked back at the sky, hugging the little boy closer. He__d have to take him to the ship__s doctor when he woke up for a check over. _

_'How about some food?'__ he asked softly, not sure if the boy was awake enough to answer him. _

_Luffy'__s eyes shot open and Shanks laughed at the look of unmistakable hope on his little face. '__Come on then Pup.'__ he began, walking with Luffy in his arms towards the ship. _

_'You'__re going to let me...eat?'__ Luffy asked carefully. '__With you?'_

_Shanks covered his unease at the question with a laugh. '__Of course!'__ they entered the kitchen, the little boy looking around the ship'__s interior with wide eyes. '__Now what would you _really like_ to eat?'_

_Luffy'__s head whipped around to look at the man in surprise, his eyes filling with sudden tears at the simple question. Luffy suddenly remembered all the days where he__d only been able to salvage a little piece of wrinkly fruit or a piece of mouldy bread from the neighbourhood garbage cans, sitting on the cold footpath to eat, all the while listening to the sounds of happy family life from the houses, saw the warm light emanating from the windows, while he smelt the delicious smells of roast meat wafting from the kitchens. _

_'I want meat! Lots and lots of meat!' he said boldly. _

_Shanks laughed and ruffled the little boy'__s hair. '__Meat it is!'__ He decided and ordered some from the waiting cook. _

_'What'__s your name?'__ Shanks asked the boy, pouring a glass of milk and handing it to him. The famished child drank the whole glass before answering. How long had it been since he__d had fresh milk. The scent of the cooking meat began wafting over to him and his eyes teared up again still unable to believe that this time he__d be allowed to eat some. How long had it been since he__d been allowed fresh milk - or fresh meat?_

_'More?'__ Shank enquired, shaking the bottle. Luffy looked down at his now empty glass in surprise, he didn'__t realise he__d finished the whole thing. He passed it to the pirate with a huge smile. _

_'My name is Luffy.'__ he finally answered after he__d drained the second glass. He wiped his milk moustache on the back of his hand. _

_'Luffy__, eh?__ My name is Shanks.'__ He grinned and tilted back his Strawhat. '__How would you like to go on a cruise, Luffy? My crew and I will take you somewhere you'__ve__ never been before - we'll go on an adventure. We'__ll__ find someone to take care of you until you'__re a bit older.'_

_'Yes!! Yeah, I wanna go!'__ Luffy exclaimed happily, now clutching his third glass of milk. _

_'Great!'__ Shanks grinned back. '__We'__ll__ leave tomorrow!'_

_The cook brought over a huge roast leg of lamb and handed Luffy a plate with a large chunk. Luffy picked it up, not even looking at the knife and fork next to his plate, honestly he didn'__t remember how to use them - he held the chunk of meat up to his nose and inhaled deeply before taking a small, unsure bite, he froze for a second. _

_'What's wrong?' Shanks asked, a little concerned. Luffy's eyes shot to his and the Captain held back a laugh at the expression on his face. _

_'YUM!!!!'__ The little boy hooked in, eating so quickly that the cook took a step back. Shanks began laughing. _

_'Now there'__s a boy who can eat!!'__ he pushed the plate of roast towards the feasting boy. _

_'Don'__t eat so fast!! You can have as much as you want while we__re sailing.'_

_Luffy__ leapt up and threw his arms around the startled Captain making the cook laugh from where he was watching by the sink. '__Thanks Shanks!!'__ The Captain grinned and hugged the little boy back. '__You'__re welcome, anchor!'_

_

* * *

_

'Nnnn...' Luffy grumbled, feeling someone shake him awake. He opened his eyes blearily to see Zoro.

'Oi, dinners up.' The swordsman advised.

Luffy's eyes lit up at the huge pile Sanji had already grilled. 'MEAT!' he exclaimed, diving forwards to grab a piece. Instead of shovelling it straight into his mouth, Luffy paused and took the time to inhale the fragrance. Sanji had used his favourite marinade, it was light but spicy with just a hint of honey.

The others came to sit down too, including Sanji would had prepared some larger pieces to slow roast while they ate. Luffy took a big bite and made a noise of delight.

'Sanji... this is awesome!'

Sanji grinned the grin that was only reserved for three things, the ladies, talking about his dream the All Blue and compliments about his cooking.

'You're welcome, Captain!' he said with a sarcastic bow.

Luffy laughed and dug in, relishing the delicious food and the company of having his closest friends nearby. He pushed his had low over his eyes for a moment. 'You guys really are the best!' he told them with a grin.

They looked at him in confusion.

He grinned. 'You saw me use that power'. He waved a hand negligently when he used the word 'power' 'and all of you treat me the same. Everyone in my old village used to be afraid of me.'

The all looked at him for a long moment before answering in unison.

'Luffy is Luffy!' They all looked at the bewildered expression on his face and burst into laughter.

Luffy joined them a few seconds later, pure happiness welling up in him for the first time since he had met Shanks. He really did have a lot to thank Shanks for, and he planned to when he next saw him. Luffy patted his hat fondly and reached down for his dinner. Shanks had given him a chance at a new life, and he was finally ready to live it.

* * *

AN Ahhhhhh... sniff... another story completed. As always, any suggestions you have that may help me with my next stories would be really appreciated. Sweet, thanks for all your support guys. This one was really fun to write. Till next time. I'm not sure why but it did that weird format thing again... hopefully i picked up all of the ones that have fallen off - it was mainly around the conversations. so yeah, sorry if i missed some.


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